The outer covers of the binding of the manuscript are lacquer painted over leather, and decorated with Ottoman saz designs, which are among the earliest examples of this style. Its brown leather doublures have central medallions and corner pieces that are ornamented with vegetal scrolls over gilded grounds. The colophon of the manuscript is in Ottoman Turkish, presumably because it was copied in the Ottoman lands, even though Navoi’s text is in Chaghatay.
A second manuscript with a similar colophon also exists. It is a copy of the Yusuf and Zulaikha of Hamdi in Ottoman Turkish preserved in Munich (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek). In the colophon of this manuscript, its scribe does not state his name but gives the date 921 (1515) and declares that he is responsible for the calligraphy, gathering (of the pages) and the binding of the manuscript, just like the scribe Pir Ahmad ibn Iskandar of the present copy of Nava’i’s Khamsa. Furthermore, the Munich manuscript also has a lacquer painted, leather binding that is decorated with Chinese clouds, which is akin to the binding of the present Topkapı manuscript, especially since leather bindings that are lacquer painted are very rare.
Since in addition to their almost identically worded colophons, the decorative style of the earlier manuscript is similar to the present one, the Munich Yusuf and Zulaikha has also been generally attributed to the same artist, Pir Ahmad ibn Iskandar. A comparison of the physical characteristics of the present manuscript with the Munich one clearly displays, however, that although stylistically the two manuscripts are similar, the present one was produced at a higher level of luxury.
Besides having more surface decoration than the Munich example, which has a simpler lacquered binding, a single illuminated heading and four illustrations within only the first half of the book, the Topkapı Khamsa has a more complex design on its binding, much more illumination and sixteen textual illustrations with more compositional details as well as depictions of architectural structures with characteristics that reflect the Ottoman taste of the period. It is also among the largest illustrated manuscripts produced at the Ottoman court until then.
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album “Illustrated Manuscripts of Alisher Navoi’s Works in Istanbul Libraries” (XIX volume) from the series "The Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan".
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