This made (makes) me swoon; I find each page of it completely gorgeous. It is a portion of an Islamic manuscript, 18th-19th century I believe (no later, for sure) from Daghestan, identifiable based style and on the palette (in contrast to the blues and golds palette commonly seen in Ottoman and Indo-Persian manuscripts, the Daghestani used locally sourced organic and mineral pigments, producing just this green, yellow, red, etc.) The text here, from what I've discerned in a very non-expert way, speaks in allegorical terms of virtue and vice, describing the tree of generosity, the "tree of the miser", the tree of mercy, and the tree of patience, with the final page I believe an illustration of a mihrab (prayer niche), and the first page (in black) illustrating and describing the scale of sin and virtue, the scissors of judgement/separation, and the ascent of the Sirat Bridge marked by checkpoints testing a person's religious duties. All the more beautiful in hand, color rich, black black, wonderful.
10" x 7 1/2", 3 leafs (all pages pictured) So black scale on first page, red square with green on its reverse and them yellow opposite, black on reverse of that and yellow opposite, then green on reverse of that. Losses, tears, etc to edges of paper as evident, but overall nice condition, paper not fragile and color wonderful.
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