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Alfiyah va shalfiyah
This manuscript is one of the class of works that goes by the generic title of 'Lizzat al-nisa’' or 'Women's pleasure.' It covers the use of medicinal drugs for personal beauty and as aphrodisiacs, and a manual explaining and illustrating various positions during sexual intercourse. The text ultimately derives from Sanskrit works such as the Kamasutra and Kokashastra. The manuscript is of Indian provenance, as is clear from the thirty-four illustrations executed in a popular nineteenth-century style. There is a personal seal, illegible, on the last page.
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Nakhust Namah, 1902 or 1903
The first volume of the book, written for public schools in the Muzaffari period (1902 or 3) by Matah Vus Khan Malik Yans. In the introduction, the author explains how to use the book. Part One is visual and teaches the alphabet. Part Two includes some reading exercises from works of poets such as Sa‘di, Nizami and Hafiz.
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Lizzat al-nisa’
Lizzat al-nisa’ or Women's Pleasure, written by Ziyaʼ al-Din Nakhshabi in the 8th century AH. The book includes 10 parts, covering such topics as the manners of intercourse and foods and medicines with aphrodisiac effects. It contains illustrated images of different intercourse positions. The text ultimately derives from Sanskrit works such as the Kamasutra and Kokashastra. The style of illustrations would indicate that the manuscript is possibly of nineteenth-century Indian provenance.
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52Images
Nakhust Namah, 1902 or 1903
A later edition of the first volume of the book, written for public schools in the Muzaffari period (1902 or 3) by Matah Vus Khan Malik Yans. In the introduction, the author explains how to use the book. Part One is visual and teaches the alphabet. Part Two includes some reading exercises from works of poets such as Sa‘di, Nizami and Hafiz. The name of the author in one of the pages is written as Tatah Vus Khan Palank Yans. The content of this edition is the same as the first one, but some visual elements are different.
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Illustrated pilgrimage scroll
This scroll illustrates the Shi‘i pilgrimage from Mecca to Mashhad. The images are accompanied by verses describing different stages of the journey and the related rites. It was lithographed in six sections and glued to a fabric (probably cotton) backing. The scroll, which was commissioned by Muhammad Ja‘far Kasa’i, a cloth merchant from Karbalaʼ, was acquired in Kirman in ca. 1971 and is now in a private collection in Kailua, Hawaii.