
This manuscript is stored under the code "Supplément persan 1416". It was copied in Herat in 886/1481 by the calligrapher Sultan ‘Ali Mashkhadi. The illumined decoration of the opening pages seems close to the style of the famous gilder (muzahhib) Yari from Herat. From Herat the volume went to Bukhara where a painted double page has been added with the signature (F. 2 a) attributing the work to the painter Sheikhzada, but this double page was very damaged and it is very difficult to be affirmative about this attribution and the date of the painting.
A second added double page (F.s 81 b – 82 a) had a signature of Mahmud Muzahhib on the daf (drum) of a musician. Some scholars, like Abolala Soudavar, are of the opinion that this signature has been added, but again the poor state of the manuscript and its restorations make definitive conclusions difficult. In any case, after the manuscript was moved as a trophy from Herat to Bukhara, it was decorated with miniatures, and then it was kept in the Baburid (Mogul) court library.
It seems that it was a gift from Mir Tahir to the emperor and on F. 3 a, Shah Jahan writes that he bought this volume in 1037 (14 February 1628) for the price of 1.500 rupiah for his library. Many other seals and Mughal inscriptions were present at the beginning and end of the book and only the seal of Shihab al-Din Shah Jahan remains readable.
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "Illustrated manuscripts from Mawarannahr in the collections of France" (Volume XXIX) in the series "The Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan".
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