Persian Manuscripts : Two copies of Qiṣṣah-'i Mūsh va Gurbah (Story of the Mouse and Cat) bound together, both apparently completed in late 18th...

Persian Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This composite manuscript contains two copies of <i>Qiṣṣah-'i Mūsh va Gurbah</i> (Story of the Mouse and Cat)—one illustrated—in different hands and formats bound together. A mock-epic, attributed to ʻUbayd Zākānī, it features a satirical fable concerning a cruel and hypocritical tyrant, symbolically depicted as an evil cat, often associated with the founder of the Muzzafarid Dynasty (1314–1393) Mubāriz al-Dīn Muḥammad (r. 1314–1358), who repeatedly torments a community of virtuous mice. Originally, this volume only contained one large illustrated manuscript, but a subsequent owner added a second smaller unillustrated copy of the text alone, probably when restoring the original volume, likely in Britain in circa 1800.</p>