Goobi - ba0d8 - 2020-08-02 18:16:45+0000
Goobi
Iskandar in the Land of Gloom, from the Book of Kings (Shahnama) by Firdausi.
One of the kings in Firdausi’s epic Book of Kings is Iskandar, or the historic Alexander III of Macedon (died 323 BC). He is known in European tradition as Alexander the Great. Firdausi tells the stories of
Iskandar’s many military conquests, but this scene shows a more spiritual adventure. Iskandar rides with his companions to the west, looking for the Water of Life that will make him immortal. His group includes a man in a tall white turban that is Ottoman in fashion: the Isfahan-based painter has placed him as a marker for all regions west of Safavid Iran. Iskandar’s guide through the Land of Darkness is Khidr, who is a saintly figure in Islam. Travelling through the dark, Iskandar and his entourage lose sight of Khidr, and so the world conqueror misses the miraculous water source.
This is one of ten folios detached from its codex (also in the Chester Beatty collection, Per 270, dated 1066H (1655) on fol. 223r), the second volume in a two-volume set of this text, illustrated by the Isfahan painter Mu`in Musavvir. Volume one is in the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto (Ms22): its colophon is dated Jumada II 1064H (April 1654), with four of its paintings dated 1065H or 1067H (1654-1657). All fifty-five paintings are by Mu`in Musavvir.
Folio, ink, colours and gold on paper, Persian text in nasta`liq script, with painting (on recto) and framed rubric ("Iskandar takes the route to Gog and Magog" in white, on verso), from the Book of Kings (Shāhnāma) by Abū al-Qāsim Firdausī (d. 1022), (codex CB Per 270), painting signed Mu'īn Muṣavvir (“az tawfīq sāni` raqam zad Mu`īn”, lower margin) , Isfahan, Iran, 1655
Iskandar in the Land of Darkness, from the Book of Kings (Shāhnāma) by Firdausi
Per 270.80
Per_270_80
Persian collection
Persian (language)
Approved Category 2017/Manuscript/Codex/Folio / Bi-Folio (Codex)
Approved Place 2018/Middle East/Iran/Eşfahān province/Isfahan
Approved Place 2018/Middle East/Iran/Eşfahān province/Isfahan
Folio / Bi-Folio (Codex)
Nasta'liq script
1655 (1066H)
1655
1655
1655
1655
true
Approved Material 2018/Organic/Plant (material)/Plant fibre/Paper (material)
Approved Material 2018/Materials/Colourant (material)/Pigment (material)
Approved Material 2018/Materials/Coating material/Ink (material)
Approved Material 2018/Inorganic/Metal (material)/Non-ferrous metal/Gold
Paper (material)
Pigment (material)
Ink (material)
Gold
GOOD
359 mm x 225 mm (height x width)
art
Mu‘in Musavvir
Mu‘in Musavvir
Isfahan
cll
Unknown
Unknown
Isfahan
Chester Beatty Library
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mailto:photographicservices@cbl.ie
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