Shaykh 'Inayat Allah Kanbu (d.1671), Bahar-i Danish ('The Springtime of Knowledge'), an illuminated and illustrated manuscript, signed by Shaykh Zafar 'Ali, North India, Delhi, dated 11 November 1805 AD

Bahar-i Danish ('The Springtime of Knowledge') is the romantic tale of Jahandar Sultan and Bahravar Banu completed by Shaykh Inayatallah Kanbu of Delhi towards the end of Shah Jahan's reign, in 1651. No illustrated Mughal manuscripts contemporaneous to the text are thought to have survived. There are two known later manuscripts. The first, from the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century, with 118 illustrations, was formerly in the collection of the Dukes of Northumberland, and sold in these Rooms, Art of Imperial India, 8 November 2014, lot 275. A second illustrated version, with 126 miniatures dated to 1700-20, is in the collection of the British Library, London (BL IO Islamic 1408).

The colophon of the present manuscript states that it was completed on the 18th of Sha'ban, the regnal year 47 (11 November 1805) during the reign of Shah 'Alam, by Shaykh Zafar 'Ali for Mian 'Ali Bakhsh. Produced during the second reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah 'Alam II, the charming illustrations in vivid colours, depicting slightly squat figures with large heads, are typical of late Mughal painting in Delhi.