Nizami Ganjavi - Five Poems (Quintet) - Walters W612 - Bottom Exterior

Walters manuscript W.612, this illuminated and illustrated Safavid copy of the Khamsah (quintet) of Nizami Ganjavi (died 605 AH/AD 1209) dates to the 11th century AH/AD 17th. The codex opens with a double-page illuminated frontispiece (fols. 1b-2a). Each of the 5 poems begins with an illuminated headpiece (fols. 32b, 117b, 176b, 240b, 331b), and there are 36 illustrations. The lacquer binding is not original to the manuscript.