Partial copy of the Book of Kings (Shāhnāma) by Abū al-Qāsim Firdausī (d. 1020)

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Manuscript

Object no:: Per 277

Title:: Partial copy of the Book of Kings (Shāhnāma) by Abū al-Qāsim Firdausī (d. 1020)

Illuminator and production place:: Zayn al-`Abidin al-Tabrizi
Qazvin

Scribe and production place:: Unknown
Qazvin (probably)

Production date:: 1590-1600

Dimensions:: 412 mm x 267 mm x 8 mm (height x width x depth)

Material:: Paper (material) Ink (material) Pigment (material) Gold Leather (material)

Language:: Persian (language)

Script type:: Nasta'liq script

Collection:: Persian collection

Document type:: Manuscript

Object name:: Codex

Description:: Partial copy of the Book of Kings (Shāhnāma) by Abū al-Qāsim Firdausī (d. 1020). Together with twelve detached folios also in the Chester Beatty collection, this codex forms only part of the original manuscript, produced at the Safavid court in Iran, in the late sixteenth century. The rest of the codex is now lost, including the final folio which would usually include a colophon statement about the patron, calligrapher's name, place of production and date. Nonetheless, the illuminator has signed the elaborate title panel on fol.1v: at the centre of the green border frame is written the name Zayn al-`Abidin al-Tabrizi. This artist was noted in Qadi Ahmad's 1596-1606 record of court calligrapher and painters, as a specialist in gilding, painting and portraiture, who worked in the shah's workshop (kar-khana) all his life. This documentation, and the distinction of the remaining folios as a whole, allow us to fix the manuscript to the reign of Safavid Shah `Abbas I (r.1587-1629), and his early court in Qazvin, c. 1590. Over eighty years later, a different phase of work was done on the same manuscript, with spectacular new paintings added by the court painter Muhammad Zaman in 1675-6. Codex, ink, colours and gold on paper, 10 folios, Persian text in nasta`liq script, with illuminated title heading (sarlawh, fol. 1v) and text rubrics throughout, four paintings (fols. 8r, 10r, 18v, 20r), and gold-painted borders throughout, partial copy of the Book of Kings (Shāhnāma) by Abū al-Qāsim Firdausi (d. 1020), initial sarlawh illumination signed Zayn al-`Abidīn al-Tabrīzī, manuscript attributed to the early reign of Safavid Shah `Abbās I (r.1587-1629), Qazvin or Isfahan, Iran, undated, c. 1590-1600.

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