Manuscript

Khamsah (or Quintet), poems written by Jamal al-din Abu Muhammad Ilyas ibn Yusuf ibn Zaki Mu'ayyad, usually know by the pen name, Nizami. The greatest Persian poet, he spent most of his life (b. 575-613H [1141-1146 CE]; d. 575-623H [1180-217CE]) in Ganja, (former Elizabehtpol), present-day Azerbayjan. This copy, without its original cover, comprises 359 folios, with two-double paged illumination interleaved with a double-page frontispiece paingtin showing throne scene, and with a double-page finispiece painting showing a banquet. Every one of the five poems begins with an elaborate title heading, and ends with a carpet page and a place for a colophon. The manuscript is written in nasta'liq script and has twenty-seven paintings. Copied in Shira, Iran, by Qasim Katib (uncertain) in teh months of Muharram to Jumada II, 992 H [1584 CE].