Add. 27261

Date 1410/11

Title [Miscellany]

Content A miscellany containing 23 works, written for Jalāl al-Dīn Iskandar ibn ʻUmar Shaykh, grandson of Tīmur who ruled in Fars, South West Iran, for five years from 1409 to 1414. Copied 1410-11 by Muḥammad al-Ḥalvāʼī and Nāṣir al-Kātib. Contains one double-page, 40 single miniatures and marginal paintings in the Shiraz/Timurid style.

Add. 27261, ff 3v-294r  
Niẓāmī Ganjavī, Khamsah   

Makhzan al-asrār (ff 3v-28r) 
Illustrations: 
(6r) The ascent of the Prophet over the Kaʻbah guided by Jibrāʼīl and escorted by angels.

  Khusraw u Shīrīn (ff 28v-89v) 
Illustrations: 
(38r) Shīrīn looking at Khusraw�s portrait watched by Shāpūr. 
(47v) Khusraw and Shīrīn in a garden.  
(61r) Farhād carrying Shīrīn and her horse across the stream. His sculptures of Khusraw and Shīrīn are visible on the right.
 (81v) Khusraw and Shīrīn in bed together.

Laylā u Majnūn (ff 90v-138r) 
Illustrations:
 (109r) Battle of the tribes watched by Majnūn.
 (118r) Majnūn in the desert with the animals.  
(131v) Majnūn and Laylā fainting at their meeting.

Haft paykar (ff 138v-190r)
 Illustrations: 
(148r) Bahrām Gūr killing the dragon.
 (159v) The fairy queen handing the traveller a cup of wine after he was discovered in her garden (story told to Bahrām Gūr by the Indian Princess in the Black Pavilion).  
(160v) Bahrām Gūr entertained in the Black Pavilion by the Indian Princess.

Iskandarnāmah (ff 190v-294r) 
(190v-259r) Sharaf-nāmah-�i Iskandarī.  
Illustration:  
(225v) Nūshābah recognising Iskandar by his portrait. 
(230r) Iskandar visiting the sage at night. 
(259v-294r) Iqbāl-nāmah-�i Iskandarī.  
Illustration:  
(286r) Iskandar watching the sirens bathing.

Add. 27261, ff 294v-301r  
Firdawsī, three episodes from the Shāhnāmah, followed by two episodes from Humāy u Humāyūn, an allegorical romantic poem by Khwājū Kirmānī: 
(294v-296r) Siyāvush and Sūdābah.
 (296r-298r) Bīzhan and Manīzhah. 
(298r-299v) Rustam goes to Sīstān to rescue Bīzhan. 
(299v-300v) Humāy kills the sorcerer demon (dīv). 
(300v-301r) Humāy liberates Parī-zād from sorcery.
 Illustrations:
 (295v) The fire ordeal of Siyāvash.
 (298v) Rustam rescuing Bīzhan from the pit at night watched by Manīzhah.  (300r): Humāy killing the demon sorcerer.

Add. 27261, ff 301v-309r 
Various authors, poems including Qaṣīdahs in praise of Muḥammad and the Imāms.
 Illustration:  
(305v) The story of ʻAlī and the Christian monk who was converted to Islam when ʻAlī saved him from falling to his death.

Add. 27261, ff 309v-313v  
Zu�l-Fiqār Shīrvānī (d. ca. 1300), Mafātīḥ al-Kalām fī Madāʼiḥ al-Karām.  A qaṣīdah ingeniously contrived so as to offer examples of all the Persian metres.

Add. 27261, ff 314r-340r  
Various authors, about 200 selected ghazals.

Add. 27261, ff 340v-342v  
Kāshī, Jamshīd ibn Masʻūd, d. ca. 1436, Mukhtaṣir dar ʻIlm-i Hay�āt.  A manual of astronomy.

Add. 27261, ff 343r-344r  
Kāshī, Jamshīd ibn Masʻūd, d. ca. 1436, Mukhtaṣir dar ʻilm-i Iqlīdis.  Elements of geometry, consisting of a few theorems from the first book of Euclid, with diagrams.

Add. 27261, ff 344v-345r  
Risālah-ʼi Kibrīt-i Aḥmar An alchemical treatise, written for Sulṭān Jalāl al-Dīn Iskandar.

Add. 27261, ff 345v-348r  
Fiqh dar Maz̲hab-i Shīʻah  A manual of Shīʻah law, according to Imām ʻAlī b. Mūsā al-Riz̤ā.

Add. 27261, ff 348r-364v  
Abū Ḥanīfah, d. 767 or 8, Fiqh Abī Ḥanīfah  A treatise on the law of religious observances. 
Illustration: 
(362v-363r) View of Mecca and pilgrims.

Add. 27261, ff 365r-372r  
Maʻrifat Taqvīm va Asṭarlāb  A treatise on the computation of the calendar and the use of the astrolabe, with tables of the conjunctions of the planets. 
Illustration:
 (371v) A physician feeling his patient's pulse. 

Add. 27261, ff 372v-542v  
Rawz̤at al-Munajjimīn 
An extensive treatise on astrology, in fifteen maqālahs 
Illustrations: 
(406r-409v) Marginal drawings of flowers and birds
(410r) The phases of the moon (borders).
(533v) Marginal drawing of a horseman, angel and a man killing a dragon
(534r) Constellation of Eridanus.
(534v) Canis Major and Canis Minor. Birds and animals in borders.
(535r) Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Birds, prince and angel in border.  
(536r) Andromeda represented by a man standing on a fish; Triangulum (a triangle) and Draco (dragon). Heads in margin.  
(536v) Cepheus. Marginal drawings of animals.  
(537r) Serpens, Aquila and Sagitta. Border drawings of a man paying homage to aprincess; animals and a shādah-vār.  
(537v) Equus Major, Equuleus and Pegasus. Marginal drawings of a prince hunting and animals.  
(538r) Aries and Taurus. 
(538v) Gemini. Marginal drawings of Khusraw Parvīz watching Shīrīn bathing, and rams fighting. 
(539r) Cancer and Leo. Marginal drawings of Majnūn in the desert with the animals, a saluki chasing a hare and a tiger chewing the marginal decoration.
(539v) Virgo and Libra.  
(540r) Scorpio and Sagittarius.  
(540v) Capricorn, Aquarius, Constellation of Piscis Australis.  
(541r) Argo Navis and Hydra.  
(541v) Crater, Corvus, Centaurus. Marginal drawings of animals, birds and a man attacked by a lion.  
(542r) Leo, Ara, Corona Australis.  
(542v) Marginal drawings of dragon and animals. Piscis Australis.  
(543r) Central medallions with dragons, birds and animals.

Add. 27261, ff 3v-112v (margins)
 ʻAṭṭār, Farīd al-Dīn, d. ca. 1230, Ilāhī'nāmah

Add. 27261, ff 113v-142r (margins)  
ʻAṭṭār, Farīd al-Dīn, d. ca. 1230, Manṭiq al-Ṭayr

Add. 27261, ff 142v-287r (margins)  
Various authors, Anthology  Selected pieces of more than three hundred poets, from the fifth to the ninth century Hijri, classed according to their subjects or metrical forms.

Add. 27261, ff 294v-302r (margins)  
Bayz̤āvī, ʻAbd Allāh ibn ʻUmar, d. 1286?, abridgment of the Niẓām al-Tavārīkh  The original work was continued to the reign of the Ilkhān Abū Saʻīd, fl. 1316-1335, son of Uljāytū Khudābandah, Ilkhan of Iran, ca. 1280-1316.

Add. 27261, ff 302v-332v (margins) 
Tuḥfat al-Gharāʼib  An anonymous compilation, in twenty-eight bābs, on the properties and hidden virtues of natural substances, of various magical and cabalistic operations, and of ingenious devices and recipes for purposes of utility or amusement.

Add. 27261, ff 332v-338v (margins)  
Madkhal-i Manẓūm  A manual of astrology in mas̲navī rhyme.

Add. 27261, ff 345v-396v (margins)  
Jurjānī, Ismāʻīl ibn Ḥasan, 1042 or 3-1136 or 7, Khafī ʻAlā�ī  A manual of medicine.

Add. 27261, ff 396v-398r (margins)  
A treatise on the diseases of the horse written in nine chapters (aṣl).

Add. 27261, ff 398r-403r (margins)  
Ghiyās̲ Kirmānī , a treatise on alchemy Compiled by order of Sulṭan Jalāl al-Dīn Iskandar.

Add. 27261, ff 420v-504r (margins)  
Awḥadī, Rukn al-Dīn, 1271 or 1272-1337 or 1338, Jām-i Jam

Add. 27261, ff 504v-539v (margins)  
Shabistarī, Maḥmūd ibn ʻAbd al-Karīm, d. ca. 1320, Saʻādatnāmah  A theological treatise in Mas̲navī rhyme, containing an exposition of the Sunni creed, with Sufi comments and a refutation of heretical doctrines.

Language Persian

Physical description  
Material: Paper. 
Foliation: ff 546 
Dimensions [leaf]: 18.4 x 12.7 cm. 
Date: From Jumāda I, 813 (f 112v) to Jumāda II, 814 (AD 1410-11). 
Script: Naskh and nastaʻlīq. Copied by Muḥammad al-Ḥalvāʼī al-Jalālī al-Iskandarī; and (ff 372-542) by Nāṣir al-Kātib. 
Decoration: Contains one double-page, 40 single miniatures and marginal paintings; ornamented ʿunwāns; gilt headings; Illuminated borders; Some coloured drawings.

Ownership Created for Jalāl al-Dīn Iskandar ibn ʻUmar Shaykh, grandson of Tīmur who ruled in Fars, South West Iran, for five years from 1409 to 1414. Owned by Miyān Akmal Badī�al-Dīn, who handed it over Muḥammad �Alī �Aṭṭār as security for a loan to the value of three hundred rupees on 29th Rabī� al-sānī (1 May 1813). Acquired by Sir John Malcolm and sold to the Museum by his son George A. Malcolm in 1865.

Bibliography Ch. Rieu, Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum. 3 vols, London, 1879-83, pp. 868-71.

Norah M. Titley, Miniatures from Persian Manuscripts: a Catalogue and Subject Index of Paintings from Persia, India and Turkey in the British Library and the British Museum. London, 1977, p. 39.

For a more detailed list of contents see here