An Investigation and Analysis of Sadi’s Bustan Calligraphy Available in Malek national Museum

Sultan Ali Mashhadi is one of the greatest calligraphers in Nastaligh script. The reputation of Sultan Ali Mashhadi (841-926 Lunar Hegira) in calligraphy, especially Nastaligh appertains to two issues, that is, the abundance of the manuscripts prepared under the auspices of the Teimurian Administration as well as the authorship of the first educational treatise in Nastaligh in 920 Lunar Hegira. In addition to intelligent and inherent ability of Sultan Ali, undoubtedly the infrastructure of above mentioned two subjects is the Companionship and affection of the great Timurid Art and Literature among Abdol Rahman Jami and Behzad Painter and having special support of Soltan Hussein Baighara and his artist Minister Amir Alishirnava'i. there is left more than fifty manuscripts and many artwork that Most of them are hold in libraries and museums abroad, but about a quarter of the total number of his works are provided a rich evaluable collection. Among the numerous works of Sultan Ali Mashhadi, there is an undated script of the Boustan-e-Sa’adi in the library of the Malek National Museum, which is considerably powerful and rich, but it has not been registered in the famous books on the study of manuscripts.Manuscript of Boustan authored by sheikh Mosleheddin Sadi Shirazi, the font Nastaligh "Khafy" and with autograph text of "the writing of This Manuscript was ended with generous king's help and by this poor humble Sultan Ali Mashhadi", written in 298 pages (149 sheets) and the dimension of written text 13.7×7.6 cm. Making use of the librarian references and relying on the documentary, descriptive and comparative methods, this research evaluates the similarities and differences and compares the Nastaligh writing style of the Boustan of the Malek Museum with the style of the works undoubtedly attributed to Sultan Ali Mashhadi. While introducing different kinds of the forgery of the artworks and providing some samples of the forgeries made, the research analyzes the authenticity of the handwriting of Sultan Ali Mashhadi in the said book. Among, what is essential, is observation and study of the entire works of this calligrapher at a process of time, the work which has been done in this paper using part of his work available in Iran. Seeing more related works show the image of Sultan Ali ability in the mind of Iranian calligraphers is lower than the actual position of this old master, because the majority of works of Sultan Ali available in the public and in books and press distributed in Iran, are considered weak to moderate. At the end of the study, we find out that the rhythm of the modes, the continuity between the lines and meticulous juxtaposition of letters and words, arrangement of points and even the handwriting of Sultan Ali in the Boustan-e-Sa’adi of the Malek Museum is convincingly similar to other works of his. This will help us answer this question: Whether the intended Boustan-e-Sa’adi is a work of Sultan Ali’s or belongs to another calligrapher and it was then forged in the name of Sultan Ali in some other era.