COPIED BY MUHAMMAD RIZA AL-KATIB AL-BALKHI, ASHTARKHANID BUKHARA, UZBEKISTAN, FIRST TEN DAYS OF DHU'L HIJJA AH 1029/END OF OCTOBER 1620 AD

Under Imam Quli Khan (r. 1611-42) the Khanate of Bukhara reached its zenith, encompassing Transoxiana and large parts of Khorassan. A charismatic and cosmopolitan ruler, his court maintained friendly diplomatic contacts with both Shah 'Abbas (r. 1588-1629) and the Emperor Jahangir (r. 1605-27). In addition to the more standard diplomatic mission, the latter records in his memoirs that "the mother of Imam Quli Khan, the ruler of Turan (i.e. Transoxiana), sent a letter filled with expressions of loyalty and friendship to Nurjahan Begam and sent rarities from that land as gifts" (Wheeler Thackston, The Jahangirnama: Memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India, Washington D.C., 1999, p. 363). When, towards the end of his life, Imam Quli Khan began to lose his eyesight, he abdicated and undertook the Hajj, dying in Mecca three years later. An illuminated firman made for Imam Quli Khan was sold in these Rooms, 10 October 2013, lot 80.

According to the dedication in the shamsa, the manuscript was completed under the supervision of the librarian Mirak Yadgar, possibly identifiable as the otherwise unknown calligrapher and painter Mirak Munshi, who worked in the scriptorium of 'Abd al-'Aziz Khan, nephew of Imam Quli Khan (M.'A. Karimzadeh-Tabrizi.: The Lives and Art of Old Painters in Iran, London, 1991, p. 1339). The illumination is very fine and crisp and the palette unusual. The manuscript is also notable for containing four illuminated panels. One illuminated panel follows the shamsa page at the beginning and a further three throughout the text. The striking binding is contemporary with the manuscript. A fine copy of the Khamsa of Nizami with paintings made for 'Abd al-'Aziz Khan in AH 1064-6 / 1653-6 AD was sold in these Rooms, 25 April 1997, lot 64.