Khamsa of Nizami (Walters MS W.613, BL Or. 12208)

The miniatures are attributed by inscriptions to at least twenty artists, most of them apparently Hindus, though the main artist, Khvaja Abd-al Samad, is Muslim. One miniature, of Khusraw hunting, is the latest known work of Abd al-Samad, former head of the imperial workshop and one of the artists Humayun had brought from Persia some forty-five years earlier, at the start of the Mughal tradition. The single scribe was Abd al-Rahim ('Abd al-Rahim 'Ambarin Qalam), a leading calligrapher of the day. Unusually, when the manuscript was inherited by Akbar's son Jahangir, an extra miniature was added by order of the new emperor with a double portrait showing the scribe at work facing Dawlat, the artist of the new miniature, making a drawing of him. This is dated, with an illegible last digit, between 1611 and 1620. Some miniatures are the work of more than one artist, typically dividing the work between drawing the overall composition, colouring and faces. This had been a common method in the imperial workshop, but was giving way to having miniatures all painted by a single artist, as the Mughal style became increasingly concerned with fine detail and realistic depiction. Apart from their main origin in the tradition of Persian miniature painting, the style of the miniatures reflects Indian art and the Western art that was known in Akbar's court from contacts which included material brought by Jesuit missionaries. While the landscapes often show European influence, and indeed north European characteristics, the many animals depicted mostly ignore the mythical beasts often seen in Persian painting, and emphasize species native to India, depicted with considerable naturalism. The choice and emphasis of the miniatures has certain distinctive features; the selection of subjects was probably made by the royal librarian and approved by the emperor, or possibly the emperor himself, possibly also in consultation with some of the artists. One of the colophons, unusually, mentions that the book was "commissioned for the treasury of books and august library, servants of his majesty...". The emphasis on the duties, difficulties and splendour of kingship is to be expected in a royal commission, but another recurring theme, of the difficulties of relationships between fathers and sons, is much more individual to this book (miniatures 5, 14, 16, 18, 20). There is a particular interest in visual art; apart from the unusual added portrait of the scribe and a painter, both Western-style art works and Hindu sculptures are depicted (miniatures, 25, 36, 44). Events in the stories are probably also intended to refer to victories of Akbar, and his generosity to the conquered.

The history of the manuscript is unknown after its ownership by Jahangir; the Mughal library amounted to some 24,000 manuscripts at its height, though many were taken by the Iranian Nadir Shah when he overran much of the Mughal empire in the 18th century. The known history resumes in 1909, when the London portion was bought by the collector C. W. Dyson Perrins (of the Worcestershire sauce family), who bequeathed it to the British Museum at his death in 1958. It came to the British Library when it inherited the British Museum libraries on its foundation in 1973. The Baltimore leaves had already been separated before 1909. In 2013 pages from the manuscript were exhibited in the British Library's exhibition Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire.

• Illustration — Bim Gujarati, Alexander the Great Enthroned at Persepolis • Illustration — 'Abd al-Rahim 'Ambarin Qalam, Invention of the Mirror in the Presence of Alexander the Great, left side of a double spread • Illustration — 'Abd al-Rahim 'Ambarin Qalam, Invention of the Mirror in the Presence of Alexander the Great, right side of a double spread • Illustration — 'Abd al-Rahim 'Ambarin Qalam, Text page, Walters W613 1A