Fine nasta'liq calligraphy. Hilali Astarabadi (c. 1470-1529) was an accomplished poet and member of the literary circle of Sultan Husayn Bayqarah in Herat. During his lifetime he formed many friendships with important contemporary literary figures such as Jami, with whom he performed the Hajj, and Ali-Shir Nava'i, the eminent Timurid mystic poet and master of Chagatai literature.

Shah u'Dervish is one of Hilali's most celebrated works, reportedly written in response to the rival poet Abdullah Hatefi (and their apparent inability to compose a mathnawi) and dedicated to Badi al-Zaman Mirza (the Timurid ruler of Herat from 1506-1507). The work is predominantly mystical in content and was therefore appealing to a wider audience than the native Persians; the work has also been translated into Turkish by Kateb Calabi (c. 1655) and Sa'id Nafisi (1958) and into German by Ethé (1870).

This is a very early example of the Shah u'Dervish, no other examples have been traced that pre-date the present example which was copied only 9 years after the death of Hilali. One manuscript copy of the same work also dated 945 AH (1538 AD) is in the Keir Collection on loan to the Dallas Museum of Art (inv.no.K.1.2014.1167).

Single volume, illuminated manuscript on paper, in Farsi, 79 leaves plus 3 flyleaves, complete, 172 x 125 mm; double column, 8 lines of fine black nasta'liq, ruled in black, gold and blue, opening of text with a fine illuminated polychrome headpiece, catch-words throughout, gold flecked doublures, final page of text repeated but apparently copied in the same hand (possibly a duplicated leaf due to scribal error), a few small smudges overall very clean and attractive internal condition; contemporary full leather with flap, gilt stamped medallions and spandrels to covers and flap, remains of early paper label to spine, skilfully rebacked and edges and covers repaired, flap unusually appearing on left-hand side.