SAFAVID SHIRAZ, IRAN, 1571 AD

Details

BAHRAM CHUBINA DECAPITATES SAVAH SHAH
SAFAVID SHIRAZ, IRAN, 1571 AD
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, 5ll. black nasta'liq arranged in four columns above and below with double gold intercolumnar rules, set within gold and polychrome rules, the margins plain, the verso with 21ll. black nasta'liq on the horizontal and diagonal arranged in four columns set within gold and polychrome rules, right hand margin associated, bound to an associated fragmentary folio consisting 25ll. text similarly arranged on both sides, on red silk-covered mount, framed and glazed
Painting 7 ¼ x 7 7/8in. (18.5 x 19.3cm.); text panel 9 3⁄8 x 7 ¾in. (23.3 x 14.5cm.); folio 13 ¾ x 11in. (34.8 x 27.8cm.) with extension

Provenance

Francois de Ricqules, Paris, 22nd March 1996, lot 91F
Anon. sale, Sotheby's London, 7 October 2009, lot 30

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

This illustration comes from a dispersed copy Firdawsi's Shahnama dated to 1571 AD. It is an excellent example of the high-quality of Shirazi manuscript production in the second half of the 16th century. A group of folios from the manuscript, including the present illustration, were sold at Francois de Ricqles, Drouot-Richelieu, Paris, 22 March 1996, lots 91-93. The colophon appears on a page published in the Francois de Ricqules sale in which this folio was acquired (lot 91G.). A further twenty-one folios were sold in Sotheby's, London, 23 April 1997, lots 103-123.

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