SAFAVID IRAN, DATED THE MIDDLE OF SAFAR AH 998/DECEMBER 1589 AD

Details

ABU AL-QASIM FIRDAWSI (D. AH 416/1024 AD): SHAHNAMA
SAFAVID IRAN, DATED THE MIDDLE OF SAFAR AH 998/DECEMBER 1589 AD
Poetry, Persian manuscript on paper, 594ff. plus three fly-leaves, each folio with 23ll. of black nasta'liq arranged in four columns with double gold intercolumnar rule, text panels laid down between gold and polychrome rules on wide Qajar margins with gold outer rule, headings in gold within gold and polychrome illuminated panels, with seven contemporaneous illustrations in opaque pigments heightened with gold, opening bifolio with elegant gold and polychrome illumination framing 11ll. of black nasta'liq in two columns, preceding 7ff. with the Abu Mansuri preface of Ma'mari in prose, colophon dated, in later brown morocco with stamped medallion and pendants, paper covered doublures
Text panel 7 3/8 x 4 3/8in. (18.7 x 12.1cm.); 11 ¾ x 7 7/8in. (29.9 x 20cm.)

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Lot Essay

The illustrations in this manuscript include:

1. The Murder of Iraj
2. Rustam and Suhrab
3. Rustam captures Kamus
4. The execution of Afrasiyab
5. Gushtasp puts Isfandiyar in chains
6. Rustam shoots Isfandiyar
7. Bahram kills the dragon

The finely illuminated bifolio at the beginning of this Shahnama include vertical panels that frame the text. These include distinctive bold blue arabesque filled with floral vine, on a gold ground. These can be paralleled in the decoration of the Eckstein Shahnama – where similar scrolls fill the outsize hasps that project into the margin (Will Kwiatkowski, The Eckstein Shahnama. An Ottoman Book of Kings, London, pp.25-27). Though not attributed to a particular centre there, they are described as being of Safavid imperial style, and dating to the 16th century. Similar motifs are found both in 1575 in Herat, see for instance two Qur’ans in Istanbul (TIEM 423; Yilinda Kur'an-i Kerim, exhibition catalogue, Istanbul, 2010, kat.74, pp.300-301).

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