Title: A Suite of Ten Folios with Large Miniatures from an Early Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, Likely Safavid Iran. Circa 1600-1650. Six Unidentified Court Scenes, one miniature of Zahhak and Kaveh, one of Bahram Gur and a Bride, a Battle Scene, and a Mourning Scene, Possibly the Death of Forud. Persian Illuminated Manuscripts on Paper
Author: Abu'l-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi
Condition: Good
An early 17th century suite of seven folios, each containing a large, heavily detailed half-page miniature from an early copy of the Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, likely produced in Safavid Iran, written in Arabic.
Also known as The Book of Kings, or شاهنامه, the work is a tremendous epic poem written by famed Persian poet Ferdowsi between 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. There are roughly 50,000 distichs or couplets, making it one of the world's longest epic poems, and the longest epic poem created by a single author.
The tales stem from all points of Persia’s mythological and historic pasts, from the mythical age of such figures such as Tahmuras, Jamshid, Zahhak and more, to the Heroic age (about two thirds are devoted to this), going from Manuchehr's reign until the conquest of Alexander the Great (referred to as Iskander in this work). Lastly there are also some historical accounts, up to the seventh century, with the fall of the Sassanids, and Arab conquest of Persia, albeit narrated in a romanticized fashion.
The miniatures are beautifully painted in gouache and gold illumination, the text being written in a four-column format of nasta‘liq script written horizontally and diagonally in black ink, and there are three illuminated headings with the title of the chapter. All the borders are nicely illuminated as well.
Of these 10 miniatures, 6 of them are court scenes yet to be identified. Of the identified miniatures, the first is a scene from the tale of Zahhak and Kaveh (two figures of Iranian mythology), with the tyrant Zahhak being at last laid low by the heroic blacksmith Kaveh (Zahhak can be distinguished by the twin snakes protruding from his shoulders). Next is a general battle scene, of two warriors facing off against a horse archer. There is also at least one miniature displaying what appears to be one of Bahram Gur (Sasanian emperor Bahram V, also known as King of Kings from 420-438) and one of his seven brides. The final scene is that of mourning, possibly of Forud, ancient king of Kelat, shortly after being mortally wounded by Rehham, the son of Gudarz.
The leaves are written in a 23-line format.
Ten illuminated manuscript leaves on glossy cream paper, sizes range from 22.5 x 13.8 cm to 23.1 x 16.1 cm
These leaves are in very good shape despite having been trimmed, with scattered staining to the leaves, heavier to the verso of several examples. There is a bit of paint scraped away to each of the miniatures, heaviest to one of them, though the illumination work is largely unaffected. As a 20th century owner took the annoying liberty of once framing the leaves to cardboard mats, there are still small remnants of old tape marks to the rear corners. Two leaves have very small tears, one of which has an old tape repair. One leaf has some damage to the center, with a small portion of paper having flaked away. Another leaf has a border partially coming away.