Descriptive Information

Title

کتاب شاهنامه / فردوسى التوسى.

Transliterated Title

Kitāb-i Shāhnāmah / Firdawsī al-Tūsī.

Call Number

Islamic Manuscripts, Third Series no. 310e

Identifier

http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/bg257f817

Publisher

[Shīrāz, 1589 or 90]

Language

Persian

Date Created

1589-1590

Extent

475 leaves : paper, col. ill. ; 476 x 335 mm.

Provenance

Inscription of ownership on f. 475b of Khayrāt Khān, envoy from ʻAbd Allāh Quṭbshāh to Iṣfahān, who purchased the ms. from the daughter of Khān Aḥmad Khān of Gīlān and widow of Shāh ʻAbbās in Rajab 1040H (February 1631). The ms. was later owned by Sir George Holford, equerry to George V, and likely purchased by A. S. W. Rosenbach in 1925. The ms. was subsequently sold to Clara Peck by Rosenbach in 1946 (Marlow, 214).

Source Acquisition

Gift; Clara S. Peck, 5/20/1983 (AM 83-173 541).

Rights Statement

Copyright Not Evaluated

Notes

Ms. codex.

Text begins on fol. 12b.

Includes 51 miniatures; handlist of their description by Louise Marlow on file.

Physical description: 29 lines per page, in four columns; written in nastaʻliq on glazed paper. Volume measures 47.6 x 33.5 cm; written surface, 30 x 16.5 cm. Catchwords; some marginal notations. Some leaves have been repaired at edges. In excellent condition.

Decoration: Text framed in silver, red, gold, black and orange; columns separated by gold bands containing floral pattern. Text on gilt is in white; some marginal notes in red. Illuminated caption bands throughout text. Title page, following page and first page of text are elaborately illuminated. 51 miniatures by an artist of the Shīrāz school illustrate famous events of the epic. Six of these appear on opposing pages at the beginning, middle (222b-223a) and end. The margins are illuminated with gilt floral and animal motifs.

Origin: Copied by Qiwām ibn Muḥammad Shīrāzī in 998 H [1589 or 90] (fol. 474a); likely produced in Shīrāz.

Binding Note

Binding is red moroccan leather inlaid with blue and green bands and stamped in gold with floral and geometric designs. Doublures and end leaves are leather borders similar to the covers but with centers of white satin. Silk endbands in alternating stripes of blue, white and red. Violet silk bookmark with gold tassel.

Discovery Information

Subject

Headpieces (layout features)—Iran—Shīrāz—16th century

Illuminated manuscripts—Iran—Shīrāz—16th century

Poetry

Physical Characteristics

File Count

963

Institutional Information

Collection

Manuscripts of the Islamic World

IIIF Manifest URL

https://figgy.princeton.edu/concern/scanned_resources/72507ee3-850b-4ad6-9098-141257cb319f/manifest

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