Goobi - ba0d8 - 2020-08-02 18:16:45+0000
Goobi
Illuminated medallion (shamsa), from Bal`ami's History (Tarikh-i Bal`ami).
This complex radiating design has a matching twin on the opposite page. Seen together, the pair of medallions occupy the book's first page-opening, and introduce a magnificent manuscript produced in Timurid Herat (Afghanistan). Formed of four radially-symmetrical quarters, each circular design features two layers of scrolling plant stems, painted in gold and jade green, against a deep blue ground. The medallion on the right has been salvaged from a slightly earlier manuscript, and has been pasted very subtly onto this page. The medallion on the left is a careful copy, made in 1470, along with the rest of this manuscript.
Writing in late tenth-century Bukhara at the Samanid court of Mansur ibn Nuh (r. 961-976), the minister and historian Muhammad al-Bal`ami composed an important new work in Persian, translating and supplementing The History of the Prophets and Kings (Ta'rikh al-Rusul wa'l-Muluk, in Arabic) by the `Abbasid scholar Abu Ja`far Muhammad al-Tabari (d. 923). This illustrated copy of Bal`ami's history was produced in Timurid Herat, in the year 1470.
Folio, colours and gold on paper, illuminated medallion (on verso), Herat, Afghanistan, dated Sha`ban 874H, February 1470. This is one of seven folios detached from its codex, which is also in the Chester Beatty Persian collection (Per 144).
Introductory medallion (shamsa), from Bal`ami's History (Tarikh-i Bal`ami)
Per 144.1
Per_144_1
Persian collection
Approved Category 2017/Manuscript/Codex/Folio / Bi-Folio (Codex)
Approved Place 2018/Asia/Central Asia/Afghanistan/Herat
Folio / Bi-Folio (Codex)
1470 (874H)
1470
1470
true
Approved Material 2018/Organic/Plant (material)/Plant fibre/Paper (material)
Approved Material 2018/Materials/Colourant (material)/Pigment (material)
Approved Material 2018/Inorganic/Metal (material)/Non-ferrous metal/Gold
Paper (material)
Pigment (material)
Gold
FAIR
351 mm x 240 mm (height x width)
art
Unknown
Unknown
Herat
Chester Beatty Library
https://viewer.cbl.ie/viewer/resources/themes/cbl/images/template/fullscreen_logo.png
https://chesterbeatty.ie/
mailto:photographicservices@cbl.ie
https://viewer.cbl.ie/viewer/ppnresolver?id=Per_144_1
https://viewer.cbl.ie/viewer/ppnresolver?id=Per_144_1