بهارستان جامی

Bodleian Library MS. Elliott 254

Baharistan

Manuscript commissioned by the Mughal emperor Akbar (1542-1605), containing stories by the Persian poet Jami (1414-1492), entitled Baharistan (Garden of spring).

Contents: MS. introduction by Sir Gore Ouseley entitled "Beharistan", dated Nov. 1817 (ff. iv-vii). Jami, Baharistan (ff. 1-67).

Extent: 67 leaves. 300 x 195 mm (written area 170 x 83, frame-ruled).

Layout: Written in 1 column of 14 lines.

Hand: Nastaʿlīq.

Decoration: Illuminated frontispiece; 6 miniature paintings by the Mughal court artists; the margins decorated throughout with gold patterns and figures, some painted.

Binding: 19th-century red velvet over cardboard with brass centrepiece and corner pieces on upper and lower covers.

Baharistan

Bodleian Library MS. Elliott 254

Jami, 1414-1492

Akbar, Emperor of Hindustan, 1542-1605

Elliott, John Bardoe

Shahjahan, Emperor of India, ca. 1592-1666

Ouseley, Gore, Sir, 1770-1844

Persian

English

1595

Lahore

Written for Akbar (1542-1605); from the collection of Sir Gore Ouseley (1770-1844); from the collection of John Bardoe Elliott; presented to Bodleian Library 1859.

Image descriptions based in part on Topsfield, A. (2007), Paintings from Mughal India.

Persian Manuscripts