Fath’ali Shirazi (d.1852, before he was 50 years old) is recorded as one the best Qajar nasta’liq calligraphers, a poet with the penname Hijab and a divan of some 7000 couplets. His recorded work, which includes a copy of the Lawayih of Jami made and presented to Muhammad Shah, is dated between 1258 AH (1842-43 AD) and 1263 AH (1846-47 AD), making this manuscript his latest recorded work (see M. Bayani, ahval va athar-e khoshnevisan-e nasta’liq, vol.ii, Tehran, 1346 AH/1969 AD).
The patron Muhammad Ja’far may be his father who is recorded as a unique engraver, well known in India and Afghanistan.
A hand written not on f.1a states that this manuscript was presented to the President of Pakistan and his wife Begum Iskandar Mirza as a memento on her trip to Pakistan. It is signed: ‘Layla Nayyir Nuri (Firuz) and dated 27. 10. 1335 AH (22 December 1956 AD)’.