Description
Walters manuscript W.607 is an illuminated and illustrated Safavid copy of 4 of the 5 poems that comprise the Khamsah (quintet) of Nizami Ganjavi (died 605 AH/AD 1209). It does not include Laylá va Majnun. The text was copied in black Nasta'liq script by Yadkar the Calligrapher (al-Katib) in 935 AH/AD 1529. An illuminated double-page frontispiece opens the codex (fols. 1b-2a), and each poem is introduced with an illuminated headpiece (fols. 33b, 119b, 180b, and 261b). The 27 illustrations appear to have been repainted in India during the 12th or early 13th century AH/AD 18th or early 19th. The manuscript is bound in late Zand lacquer boards with figural scenes depicting Bahram Gur hunting and Khusraw watching Shirin bathing. The upper board illustrating Bahram Gur is dated 12[0]5 AH/AD 1790-1791.
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