Book
Treasures of Herat. Two Manuscripts of the Khamsah of Nizami in the British Library
In this book, Barbara Brend provides a detailed study of the paintings in two celebrated Persian manuscripts housed in the British Library (Or.6810 and Add.25900). These two copies of the Khamsah of Nizami were produced in Herat in the fifteenth century, one of the greatest periods of Persian painting. Although well known, the manuscripts have never before been written about in relation to each other. Brend tells the story of each poem and the painting that illustrates it, and she formally analyses the images, placing them in their historical and artistic context. The images from both highly-prized manuscripts are beautifully reproduced in colour, and the collected history of one of the manuscripts—recorded in the form of seal impressions and inscriptions—is also included. Ursula Sims-Williams provides a translation and commentary of these important marks of ownership which identify the Mughal rulers Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb.
Published by Gingko, 24 April 2022
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