With two illuminated miniatures. Sheikh Shams al-Din Muhammad 'Assar Tabrizi was a poet, scholar and mystic of fourteenth-century Persia, and this poetic romance is his best-known work. With strong pre-Islamic themes, the text recounts an epic story of spiritual and platonic love between the protagonists Mihr (son of Shahpur Shah) and Mushtari (son of Shapur Shah's Vizir), relaying the trials and tribulations they encounter together from their early schooldays and further through their adulthood.

This exquisitely illuminated manuscript includes two illuminated miniatures that are very much in the style of artistic production of early seventeenth-century Safavid artistry, probably produced for a wealthy patron around 1580 by a workshop of the Royal Safavid Courts.

Formerly in the library of the Ottoman court historian Çelebizade Asim Efendi (d. 1760). Asim Efendi, better-known as Küçükçelebizâde, was the son of Reîsülküttâb (Minister of Foreign Affairs) Mehmed Efendi. He was born in Istanbul and educated under the supervision of distinguished scholars including the famous poet, calligrapher, musician Abdülbâki rif Efendi. He was celebrated for his fine nasta'liq calligraphyand worked as a professor (mudarris) and judge (qadi) in Istanbul. In 1723 he was appointed court historian/chronicler by the Grand vizier Ibrahim Pasha and also appointed the chief-judge of Istanbul in 1748 before becoming the supreme judge of Anatolia (Anadolu kazaskeri)by 1757. His best known work is the The History of Çelebizâde, a historical account of the events that took place between 1722 and 1729, which was first published by İbrâhim Müteferrika in 1740. Later, it was printed by the Matbaa-i Amire (Ottoman Imperial Press) and in 1865 as an addendum to the History of Raşid. On Grand vizier Ibrahim Pasha's order, he worked on the translation of Ayni's Iqd al-Juman and Khawajah Ghiyath al-Din Naqqash's Ajaib al-Lataif to Turkish. The latter was published in Istanbul by the famous bibliophile Ali Emiri Efendi in 1912.

Single volume, illuminated manuscript on paper with two illuminated miniatures in the text, in Farsi, complete, 213 leaves, plus three flyleaves, 250 x 150 mm; double column, 12 lines regular scribal black nasta'liq, headings in white nasta'liq outlined in black set against gold decorated banners throughout the text, opening two pages with richly illuminated blue and gold borders of intricate geometric designs, with pale blue and orange accents, some very skillful restoration to first page, one leaf re-margined, some light finger soiling else internally clean and attractive condition; in a handsome contemporary Safavid stamped binding with flap, fine doubleurs (restored), rebacked and edges repaired.