<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>This large and important manuscript is perhaps the most interesting in the collection. It is mentioned in the colophon and a note at the end of the introduction (ff. 11r-v) that the MS was made according to the order of the [Qurchi-bashi] Murtaza-Quli-Khan b. Mihrab-Khan Qajar, to be presented to Shah ‘Abbas II (1642-1666). It came to Russia as a diplomatic gift, brought by Khusrau Mirza as an offering to St. Petersburg after the murder of Griboedov in 1829, after which it evidently entered the Royal Library. On f. 1r there is a rectangular imprint of the owner’s stamp and inscription with the date 1232/1817 and the name of the library: Kitabkhana-yi mubaraka-yi Shahinshahi.</p><p>The colophon (f. 11v) states that the copy was started in 1052 (1642) and finished in 1061 (1651); the calligrapher was Muhammad Shafi‘ b. ‘Abd al-Jabbar. Place of work – Mashhad (?). The text is in quite large perfect nasta‘liq in Indian ink, headings are in naskh in red or black with red or black diacritics over the gold foreground of the horizontally prolongated cartouches.</p><p>The binding is made of lacquered leather, decorated along the frame with the gilded herbal ornament and medallions in the centre with trees, birds and deer. On both outside covers there are also two cartouches of red leather, on which there is the following ruba‘i:</p><p>sikka-yi k-andar sukhan-i Firdousi-yi Tusi nishand</p><p>ta napindari kas-i az jumla-yi farsi nishand</p><p>avval az bala-yi kursi bar zamin amad sukhan</p><p>u digar bar az zamin-ash bar sar-i kursi nishand</p><p>The edge of the binding is of black polished and lacquered leather. The inside covers are made of red thin leather. The central part is decorated with a medallion of a very refined cut ornament of the gold leather over the orange, purple, blue and green paper background along the frame. The outside covers are probably older than the other parts of the binding and even the manuscript itself, and can be dated back to the 16th c.</p><p>The condition of the MS is good, restored, but the catchwords are mostly cut out.</p><p>The paper is glossy and of two kinds: thin sheets of different colours (scarlet, dark pink, bright reddish-orange, ochre-yellow, bright and dark green of different tints) and white, which is thicker. The multicoloured paper was used only up to f. 547. A separate sheet of paper at the beginning is European (Russian ?) with watermarks: a bear standing up in an oval crowned emblem and several illegible letters.</p><p>Text: A full copy, containing many interpolations The text is divided into 4 parts, each of which has its own title (ff.1v – introduction, 12v, 224v, 384v, 531v). Ff. 1v-11r contain the Baysunghur Preface, with many poetic fragments. The satire on Sultan Mahmud consists of 82 baits (ff. 7v-8v).</p><p>The interpolations are as follows:</p><p>ff.19r-80v, Jamshid-nama; ff. 86v-136v, Garshasp-nama; ff. 147r-148r, Garshasp-nama (continuation); ff.151r-154v, Garshasp-nama (continuation); ff. 171v-178r, Sam-nama (?); ff. 179r-179v, Sam-nama (? about Zal, continuation); ff. 191r-210r, Sam-nama (? about Rustam, continuation); ff. 211r-219r, Sam-nama (? about Zal and Rustam in India, continuation); ff. 258v-259v, Suhrab-nama; ff. 320v-331r, Faramarz-nama; ff. 400r-401v, the story of Barkhiyas iv; ff. 405r-452r, Barzu-nama; followed by the Davazdah rukh (from f. 452v); ff. 526v-529r, Fariburz-nama (?). The sequence of the folia here must be: ff. 526, 529, 527, 528, 530; ff. 614r-631r, Bahman-nama.</p><p>Then the order of the folios should be as follows: 753, 862-867, 857-861, 834-838, 824-833, 804-807, lacuna (41 bayts missing), 808-825, 798-803, 754-784, lacuna (68 baits and a miniature), 786-797, 868 – up to the end of the MS.</p><p>The end of the poem contains the conclusion often attributed to Firdausi, after which there is a fragment usually placed in the satire on Mahmud of Ghazna. The last seven baits are absolutely original.</p><p>Incipit: Sar anjam k-u barg-u bar avard / haman miva-yi talkh bar avard...</p><p>The decoration and illumination of the MS is luxurious. Every part of the poem is decorated extremely richly at the beginning (ff.1v-2r, 12v-13r, 224v-225r, 384v-385r, 531v-532r) and at the end (ff.11v, 12r, 224r, 383v, 384r, 531r, 580v), with ‘unvans and cartouches of animalistic and herbal ornament made of gold, in the margins.</p><p>The manuscript contains 192 paintings executed by several painters. Two of them are identified by their signatures: Afzal al-Husaini, who dated his paintings from1052 to 1055 (1642-1645) and Pir Muhammad al-Hafiz, who signed only one miniature in 1054/1644. The third painter did not sign any of the illustrations of this MS, but his manner can be identified with that of the MS PNS 381, where three miniatures were signed under his name: Riza-yi Musavvir. A part of miniatures can be attributed to both of Riza-yi Musavvir (according to the style of depicting faces) and Pir Muhammd al-Hafiz (in the peculiar manner of representing nature and animals): ff. 740r, 744r, 746r, 790r, 808v, 814r, 872r. All the pictures are almost full page.</p><p>It is interesting to note that two of these artists Afzal al-Husaini and Riza-yi musavvir also worked on the manuscript in the Cambridge University Library, Corpus Or. 202, where they, however, did not sign a single painting. (FA)</p></p>
