A Khamsa of Nizami dated Herat, 1421

Abstract

• THE Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books has recently acquired a Persian manuscript (Or. 13802) dated Herat, 824 (1421), which is illustrated by miniatures of considerable interest and importance, both stylistically and historically. The work consists of 794 folios containing the five poems (Khamsa) of Nizami (d. 1203) written in the centre; the poems of Amir Khusraw Dihlavi (d. 1325) were added in the margin in 1435 with, at the end and also in the margin, the Dahnama of Ibn 'Imad. The colophon does not give the date of completion of the latter work but it was probably copied later than 1435. The eighteen miniatures which illustrate the central text of the Khamsa of Nizami appear to be contemporary, i.e. 1421.