Text folio with interlinear gilding (text with gilding recto; text verso of folio 4), from a manuscript of Layla and Majnun by Jami

The manuscript opens with an illuminated sarlawh and gilded text panel. The text is copied in 13 lines in two columns and the text panels are remounted onto new margins. According to its colophon the manuscript was copied by Muhammad al-Qivam al-Shirazi (1537-1585) who was a famous scribe in Shiraz. Another manuscript in the hand of the same scribe in the Harvard Art Museums is the Shahnama of Firdawsi, with his signature in the colophon page (2002.50.138). The leather binding is gilded and stamped. The inside cover is decorated with animals in a landscape in relief. The interior of the front cover is mistakenly placed upside down during a repair.