Goobi - ba0d8 - 2020-08-02 18:16:45+0000
Goobi
The simurgh carries Zal to her nest, from the Book of Kings (Shahnama) by Firdausi.
When Zal is born with white hair, his father Sam presumes this a bad omen, and the nobleman has the baby abandoned in the wilderness. There, the simurgh (a giant magical bird) finds him, and carries him back to her three simurgh chicks, seen in this painting, as they wait expectantly in their mountaintop nest. The dramatic moment is painted in vivid colour, with the steep rocky precipice jutting up out of the picture-frame, and the exquisitely-painted simurgh spreading her wings. When the simurgh reaches the nest with Zal, the chicks refuse to eat him, and so Zal is adopted into the family. Later in the story, the white-haired boy is reunited with his remorseful father, and Zal grows up to become a pivotal character in the Shahnama.
Folio, ink, colours and gold on paper, Persian text in nasta`liq script, with painting (on recto), two illuminated rubrics ("Dream of Sam Nariman" and "Sam Nariman goes to seek Zal", on verso) and gold-painted borders, from the Book of Kings (Shahnama) by Abu al-Qasim Firdausi (d. 1022), attributed to the early reign of Safavid Shah `Abbas I (r. 1587-1629), Qazvin, Iran, undated, c. 1590-1600. This is one of twenty-two folios in the Chester Beatty, all from the same partial copy (possibly never fully completed) of Firdausi's Shahnama: ten folios are in a modern binding, twelve are mounted separately. Most of these folios are not directly sequential, and fall into three sets, narrating the earliest kings, Faridun and his descendants, and Rustam.
The simurgh carries Zal to her nest, from the Book of Kings (Shahnama) by Firdausi
Per 277.12
Per_277_12
Persian collection
Persian (language)
Approved Category 2017/Manuscript/Codex/Folio / Bi-Folio (Codex)
Approved Place 2018/Middle East/Iran/Qazvin
Approved Place 2018/Middle East/Iran/Qazvin
Folio / Bi-Folio (Codex)
Nasta'liq script
1590-1600
1590
1590
1600
1600
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
408 mm x 262 mm (height x width)
art
attributed to
Unknown
Unknown, attributed to
Qazvin
probably
scr
Unknown
Unknown
Qazvin
Chester Beatty Library
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https://chesterbeatty.ie/
mailto:photographicservices@cbl.ie
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