Publication Date
c. 1300
Type
Document
Language
Persian
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Physical Dimensions
190 mm x 156 mm (height x width)
Library
Chester Beatty
Record ID
Per 104.35
Library Location
Persian collection
Date
c. 1300
Notes
Isfandiyar kills the dragon (recto) and Isfandiyar lassoes the sorceress (verso), folio from the Book of Kings (Shahnama). This scene show one of the seven heroic feats, or Trials, undertaken over seven days by prince Isfandiyar. For his third Trial, Isfandiyar uses a spiked chariot to kill a dragon (recto). For his fourth Trial the following day, he lassoes and then kills a sorceress in disguise (verso). Once the Trials are complete, Isfandiyar continues his mission to rescue his two sisters from imprisonment in a bronze fortress. Detached folio, ink, pigments and gold on paper, later mounted onto card, Persian text with two paintings (recto and verso), probably Tabriz, Iran, c. 1300. This folio is from a dispersed manuscript known to scholars as the "First Small Shahnama", of which seventy-seven folios are now in the Chester Beatty. The "Small Shahnama" manuscripts are the earliest known illustrated examples of the Book of Kings (Shahnama), the epic Persian poem composed c. 1010 by Firdausi. Two manuscripts are dispersed, and a third is in the Freer Gallery in Washington, DC. Of small format, these three manuscripts are undated, but usually attributed to c. 1300 on stylistic grounds. Details of iconography confirm that production was after the Mongol invasions of Iran and Iraq, and the establishment of Ilkhanid rule in 1258.
Materyal
Paper (material), Ink (material), Pigment (material), Gold
Nesne Adı
Folio / Bi-Folio (Codex)
Yazı Tipi
Naskh script
