Persian manuscript on thin polished paper, 186 leaves, 11 lines to the page written in elegant shikasteh script in black ink, titles picked out in red, inner margins ruled in blue and gold, catchwords in wide outer margins, one illuminated headpiece in colours and gold, outer margin of folio 1b-2a richly decorated with undulating floral and vegetal motifs in gold and some colours, in good condition, contemporary red morocco gilt, worn
177 x 105 mm.

Footnotes

The author, whose full name was 'Unsur al-Ma'ali Kaykaus ibn Iskandar ibn Qabus ibn Wushmgir ibn al-Ziyar, was the Ziyarid ruler of Tabaristan and Gurgan who reigned from 1049 to 1087. He composed the work in 1082 for his son Gilan Shah (reg. circa 1087-90). The Mirror of Princes, a major work of Persian literature from the 11th Century, consists of 44 chapters and outlines princely education, manners and conduct in ethical didactic prose. For more on the work see J. Rypka, History of Iranian Literature, reprint 1968, p. 221.

It has not been possible to identify the scribe, but from the illumination of the manuscript it is very likely that he was from Shiraz.

The earliest copy of this work, dated 1349, is in the Malik Library, Tehran. The Ottoman Sultan Murad II ordered the work to be translated into Turkish, and a copy dated 1450 is in the Fatih Library, Istanbul. A copy dated AH 861/AD 1457 is in the British Library: see Charles Rieu, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, London 1977, p. 105, no. 145, Or.3252.

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'Unsur al-Ma'ali Kay Kavus, Qabus-nameh or nasihat-nameh, The Mirror of Princes, an illuminated manuscript copied by Ibrahim Qajar Persia, dated 2nd Rajab 1281/1st December 1864

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