Perkins gathered these and other photographs of Al Smith for her unpublished biography. Some of them were used by Matthew and Hannah Josephson in their 1969 biography of Smith.
This is a relatively early example of a revival in illumination (tazhib) designs which flourished in the 1880s. Subtle allusions to Qur'anic verses are given through the presence of a bee (Q16:68-69) and moth (Q101:4).
It is unclear if this binder should be associated with Lutf-ʿAlī Khān, a prolific painter active in Shiraz between ca. 1850-65. Both artists had an eye for botanical detail, although the present binding uses a simpler ground […]