“Divan”

This manuscript is a 1937 copy of the “Divan” of the poet Sakkaki, a representative of the fifteenth-century Turkic literary tradition.
Sakkaki’s original works belong to the Timurid period and are associated with the cultural environment of Samarkand. His poetry reflects the courtly context, combining panegyric elements with Sufi imagery.
This particular copy was produced in 1937, during the Soviet period, when the use of the Arabic script was being actively phased out. The manuscript therefore provides evidence of the persistence of traditional calligraphic practices outside official cultural frameworks.
The material is factory-made paper, typical of the twentieth century. Unlike earlier manuscripts, the binding is utilitarian and lacks elaborate decoration.
However, the internal structure preserves classical conventions. The text is written in nasta‘liq script, with careful attention to proportion and line flow, indicating a trained scribe.
This object represents a rare example of the استمرار (continuity) of manuscript culture in Central Asia within a radically transformed historical context.