Islamic Art
Page from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (Persian, about 934–1020)
MetalworkManuscript
Details
- Author / creator
- Mir Musavvir (Iranian, c. 1510–1555)
- Object type
- Manuscript
- Date or period
- 1520–37
- Dimensions summary
- Sheet: 47.5 × 32.2 cm; Text area: 28.4 × 18.5 cm
- Maker or workshop
- Mir Musavvir
- Period / style
- Safavid period
- Place of origin
- Iran
- Acquisition method
- Purchase
- Credit line
- Purchased with the Ashcombe City Council acquisitions budget, 1988
- Image rights
- Public domain (CC0)
About this object
Begun at the end of the reign of Shah Ismail (reigned 1501–24), first king of the Safavid dynasty of Iran, this copy of the Shah-nama (Book of Kings) was completed during the reign of his son Shah Tahmasp. Unparalleled in scope and refinement, the book included 259 paintings by master artists in the royal workshop. Two calligraphers copied the text in an elegant, flowing nasta‘liq script. In 1568, Shah Tahmasp gave this book as a gift to the Ottoman sultan Selim II of Turkey.
Materials and technique
Gum tempera, ink, gold, and silver on paper
Signature and marks
Script: Nasta'liq
