شاهنامۀ فردوسی

Walters Ms. W.603, Book of kings (Shahnama)

Walters Ms. W.603, Book of kings (Shahnama)

Shāhnāmah

شاهنامه

Firdawsī (author)

Abū al-Qāsim Ḥasan ibn Isḥāq Firdawsī Ṭūsī (author)

ابو القاسم حسن بن اسحاق فردوسى طوسى (author)

This is an illuminated and illustrated incomplete copy of the Shāhnāmah (Book of kings) by Abū al-Qāsim Firdawsī (d. 411 or 416 AH / 1020-5 CE), dating between the eleventh century AH / seventeenth CE and the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE. The text, written in black nastaʿlīq script with chapter/section headings in red on a gold ground, is illustrated with seventeen paintings. Two of the illustrations (fols. 2b and 269a) are in a clearly recognizable Qajar style and certainly date to the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE. The others may be late Safavid, repainted in the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE. For full description, see http://www.thedigitalwalters.org/Data/WaltersManuscripts/html/W603/description.html

The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.

Seventeen illustrations; chapter/section headings in illuminated panels; framing lines in red, green, blue, black, and gold

fol. 2b Sulṭān Maḥmūd of Ghaznī; Iyāz (his slave); and the poets Firdawsī, ʿUnṣurī, and ʿAsjadī Illustration

fol. 24b Isfandiyār decapitates Bidarāfsh Illustration

fol. 35a Isfandiyār ties the hands of Gurgsār and takes him prisoner Illustration

fol. 59b Zavārah kills Isfandiyār’s son Nūsh-Azar Illustration

fol. 72b Rustam kills his brother Shaghād before dying in the pit Illustration

fol. 88a The hanging of Farāmarz on the order of Bahman Illustration

fol. 117b Alexander the Great fight the Abyssinians Illustration

fol. 132b Ardashīr kills disobedient warriors Illustration

fol. 151b Shāpūr captures the king of Rūm Illustration

fol. 172b Bahrām Gūr hunting Illustration

fol. 184b Bahrām Gūr wrestles with two Indian champions in the presence of Shangul, king of India Illustration

fol. 209a Bahrām Chūbīnah defeats Khusraw Parvīz in combat Illustration

fol. 222b Khusraw Parvīz battles Bahrām Chūbīnah Illustration

fol. 236a Gurdiyah, sister of Bahrām Chūbīnah, kills her husband Gastahm Illustration

fol. 253b Mihr Hurmuzd kills Khusraw Parvīz Illustration

fol. 260b Saʿd-i Vaqqāṣ kills Rustam-i Hurmuzd Illustration

fol. 269a The tomb of Firdawsī in a landscape Illustration

11th century AH / 17th CE -- 13th century AH / 19th CE

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

Persian

paper

image/jpeg

1601-1825

All Walters manuscript images and descriptions provided here are copyrighted © The Walters Art Museum.