<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>A miscellany, commissioned by Ibrahim Sultan, son of 'Umar Shaikh, after becoming governor of Shiraz in 1410. The manuscript, which is lavishly illustrated, perhaps by the artist Pir Ahmad Baghshimali, contains selections from the work of Firdausi, Nizami and others, as well as scientific and astrological material. A sister Anthology is found in Lisbon, Gulbenkian LA 161. The passages from the Shahnama (unlike the Khamsa of Nizami) are brief and abridged extracts. They include passages from the story of Siyavush (ff. 294v-296r) and Bizhan and Manizha (ff. 296r-299v). Both are, however, illustrated. The text was probably copied in Jumada I, 814 by the scribe Muhammad, shortly after he completed the Khamsa, which is the previous work in the Anthology (see colophon on f. 294r).The work written in the margins of the Shahnama extracts is an abridgement of Qadi Baidawi's Nizam al-tawarikh. (Ch.M.).BibliographyCharles Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, vol. 2, London, 1881, pp. 868-71Norah M. Titley, Miniatures from Persian manuscripts, London, 1977, p. 39Priscilla Soucek, "The manuscripts of Iskandar Sultan: structure and content", in L. Golombek & M. Subtelny, eds., Timurid art and culture, Leiden, 1992, pp. 116-31.Link to the digitised manuscript: http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Add_MS_27261</p></p>
