Panj Ganj i cinque tesori di Nezami Ganjavi della Fondazione Giorgio Cini - Il restauro di un capolavoro della miniatura persiana del XVII secolo

This volume is dedicated to one of the illuminated masterpieces preserved in the Giorgio Cini Foundation library, restored between 2018 and 2020. It is a magnificent manuscript copy of the Panj ganj (The Five Treasures), or Kamse (Pentalogy), by Nezamimi Ganjavi (1141-1209), the sum work of one of the greatest poets of classical Persian literature. A product of luxury, compiled by the celebrated calligrapher Mohammad Hoseyn Dar al-Marzi and richly illuminated in Širaz between 1624 and 1625 in the workshop of a gilder, named in the colophon as Lotfollah, it is one of a group of sumptuous manuscripts believed to have been commissioned by Emamqoli Kan, powerful and learned governor of Širaz between 1613 and 1633. The codex, donated by Vittorio Cini to the Foundation's library in 1967, following his trip to Tehran for the exhibition of Cini miniatures at the Golestan Palace, is evidence of refined collecting taste and the richness of the cultural relations between the Cini Foundation, Iran and the Middle East in the 1950s and 1960s. Conceived as a commentary, the volume brings together essays by leading scholars in the disciplines of Persianism and Islamic art history who investigate the historical context of the manuscript and delve into its literary, codicological, art historical and collecting aspects. A these are complemented by technical contributions related to the restoration and diagnostics conducted by the CIBA research group of the University of Studies of Padua.