IRAN, 19th century. Book of blessings. Arabic manuscript on paper, text in naskh script of twenty lines per page in black and red ink with line spacing in framing fillets, divided by month. Some marginal annotations. Frontispiece decorated with an illuminated sarlow of gilt palmettes on a polychrome background. Colophon giving the date of the copy as the month of Rajab, but the date has been erased. Stamp on first page dated 1315H /1897-98. Bound in painted and lacquered papier-mache, decorated in the style of Abu Tâleb with a wide border of poly-lobed medallions with pendants on a marbled background, surrounding calligraphic cartouches containing the verse of the Throne (ayat-al-kursi) around a central black rectangle, bearing the date 1173H ? (1760). Size: 22.5 x 13.5 cm LS The first page has been restored and glued to paper. The last page is damaged and torn. Wear, wetness and stains Provenance: Gros-Delettrez sale, Orientalism-Africanism, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 14 December 2004, lot 324. The decoration of the binding is entirely in the style of Abu Tâleb, dating from the 1860s-70s, and the frontispiece of this manuscript was illuminated in the 19th century.