Publication Date
c. 1300
Type
Document
Language
Persian
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Physical Dimensions
216 mm x 178 mm (height x width)
Library
Chester Beatty
Record ID
Per 104.18
Library Location
Persian collection
Date
c. 1300
Notes
Bizhan pursues Tazhav and his slavegirl Ispanwi, folio from the Book of Kings (Shahnama) of Firdausi. Tazhav and his slavegirl Ispanwi flee the battle on horseback. Eventually Tazhav tells Ispanwi to get down from the horse so that he can escape to Afrasiyab's court, and she is captured. Detached folio, ink, pigments and gold on paper, later mounted onto gold-flecked card, Persian text with painting, 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
