This book is a prose account in Persian of the birth of the caliph Ali, his childhood in the home of the Prophet Muhammad, the battles in which he fought alongside Muhammad, his heroic deeds following the death of Muhammad, and his death. The book was written by Muhammad Fasih in the year 1057/1647-48 at the request of the Safavid shah Abbas II (r. 1641-66) (f. 2v). In the introduction the author explains that he wrote the book at the age of 45 and had served at the palace for 23 years. The first page of text (f. 1v) in this copy is headed by an illuminated rectangular panel ornamented with large composite hatayi flowers and small flowers on slender branches. The opening spread (f.1v-2r) is surrounded by a narrow ruled border and broad border filled with gilded halkâr decoration consisting of large saz leaves and hatayi flowers. The spaces between the lines are gilded. At the bottom of the last page is a large panel filled with gilded saz leaves and large gold, red and blue hatayi flowers (f. 250r). Twenty illustrations depict battles fought by Ali, some showing Muhammad watching Ali engaged in combat. The faces of both are veiled. There are halos over the head of Muhammad and sometimes over the head of Ali. The names of some of the figures are written next to them. In some of the illustrations, such as those on folios 28r, 43v and 136v, the faces depicted frontally or in profile are sharply individualised. Sometimes perspective is employed in drawing the landscape and shading is used on the trees to give a three dimensional impression (f. 37v). Stylistic analysis of the illustrations shows that they are the work of two different artists, one of whom has a more naïve style. The chestnut coloured leather binding has no flap. The covers are decorated with a medallion filled with tooled cloud bands, branches and flowers. There is a bird perched on a bouquet stamped inside each of the medallion pendants. The ground of both medallion and pendants are gilded. The doublures are of maroon leather with hand-painted gold decoration consisting of an oval lobed medallion filled with large hatayi flowers, saz leaves and slender branches, with pendants filled with hatayi flowers attached to the medallion by a large hatayi flower. The binding is probably original. At the top of f. 1r is a recipe for making syrup of French lavender (Lavandula stoechas) written in 14 lines of talik script. In the centre are two lines of talik explaining that Nûr Çeşm Han was born in 1252/1836, and below this a note explaining that the book entitled Ahbâr-ı Aliyye der-Gazavât-ı Mürtezaviyye was written in 1057/1647-48 during the reign of Shah Abbas II. On the last page are two impressions of the same wreath-shaped seal bearing the name Hasib and the date 1132/1913-14 (f. 250r).
The date of the manuscript and place where it was produced are not known. However, the date 1252/1836 on f. 1r shows that it dates from before that. The style of decoration on the leather covers, the motifs and composition of the illumination on ff. 1v-2r, and the matte gold and lapis blue are typical of books originating in 18th century Iran, so it was probably produced in Isfahan or Shiraz. The illustrations, like the binding and illumination, appear to have been produced at the same studio in Iran during the Qajar period (1779-1924).
