The Gulistan, meaning ‘the rose garden’, is a moralistic and anecdotal work in prose by Saadi Shirazi, the 13th-century writer recognised as one of the greatest masters of classical Persian literature. This manuscript was copied by the calligrapher Muhammad Husayn Kashmiri (d.1611), whose skill earned him the title zarrin qalam (‘Golden Pen’) and the admiration of many generations of Mughal emperors. According to the colophon, he completed the text in 1584 in the library of Abd al-Muttalib Khan, a nobleman and personal attendant of Emperor Akbar.

The Gulistan was originally written in 656/657 AH (AD 1258), and is divided into eight chapters called babs (‘gates’), which correspond to the eight gates leading to the garden of paradise. It is mostly written in hikayats (short prose vignettes) combined with verse, which aim to deliver advice in an easily digestible form. The Gulistan, used as a textbook across the Persian-speaking world for centuries, also functioned as the primary text of Persian language instruction for East India Company officers working at Fort William College in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India (est. 1801) and Haileybury College in Hertford Heath, England (est. 1806).

This large volume opens with a shamsah (‘sunburst’) and an illuminated, double-page frontispiece. Decorations appear throughout, including richly coloured borders with floral and arabesque designs painted in gold.

Several inscriptions and seals attest to the manuscript’s long history in the Mughal imperial library. On the reverse of the first folio are notes in the hand of Emperors Jahangir and Shah Jahan, as well as the imperial seals of Emperors Shah Jahan and Alamgir. The seal of Abd al-Ahad Khan, a close advisor to Emperor Shah Alam II, is dated 1169 AH (AD 1756) and impressed on every folio. The seal is often cropped, indicating that the manuscript’s pages were trimmed before being bound into the current covers.

By the late 18th century, the manuscript was in the Awadhi royal library at Lucknow. In 1798, the new ruler of Lucknow, Saadat Ali Khan, presented this copy of the Gulistan and five other manuscripts (RCINs 1005015, 1005017, 1005025, 1005032 and 1005068) from the royal library in Lucknow to Lord Teignmouth, Governor-General of Bengal (1793-98), all intended as gifts for George III and shipped by Lord Teignmouth from Calcutta. Once in England, the manuscripts were brought to The King’s Library in Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace), and moved to the Royal Library at Windsor in the 19th century.

In a memo to George III, Lord Teignmouth informed the king where he would find a translation of the texts he gifted him, adding that ‘A note in the first page [of the Gulistan] mentions that the writer was rewarded 1000 Gold Mohrs, & nothing can exceed the beauty or perfection of the writing’.

Binding description
Probably India, late 18th century. Black goatskin with gilt-stamped medallions and border lines; covered with a silk wrapper of Benares brocade.