Contract for the Purchase of an Estate

Location: Northern Afghanistan

Materials: ink on leather; with 2 clay sealings

Dimensions: 52.6 x 39.4cm

Accession Number: DOC 116

Other Notes:

Bactrian document; recto: 33 lines (closed copy) + 33 lines (open copy); verso: blank. Complete and perfectly preserved apart from a few worm-holes. A tear at the top of the closed copy was sewn together before the text was written.

Originally sealed with three sealings: (A) thong and sealing with fingernail impression intact; (B) string and sealing with seal impression intact; (C) string intact, sealing missing.

The sale was in order to pay a large Arab poll-tax and harvest-tax and a debt.

Bibliography:

N. Sims-Williams, Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan I, Studies in the Khalili Collection, volume III, part I, revised edition, London 2012, Document W, pp.126–135.
N. Sims-Williams, Bactrian Documents from Northern Afghanistan III, Studies in the Khalili Collection, volume III, part III, London 2012, Document W, p.17, pls 91–5.