An Iranian Epic in Pictures

Published on 21 July 2021, by Caroline Legrand

Auction on 01 August 2021 - 10:00 (CEST) - 4, rue de Noyon - 50100 Cherbourg

There have been thousands of editions and illustrations of the Shâhnâmeh, Iran’s founding text, over the centuries. This copy attests to the climax of Safavid art in the very late 16^th century.

Iran, probably Shiraz, Safavid period, c. 1590–1600. The Book of Kings or Shâhnâmeh... An Iranian Epic in Pictures

Iran, probably Shiraz, Safavid period, c. 1590–1600. The Book of Kings or Shâhnâmeh by Ferdowsi, Persian manuscript on paper, 723 folios, 22 lines of text in black ink in nasta’liq script, 20 miniatures painted in polychrome and gold, 37.5 x 25 cm/14.76 x 9.84 in.
Estimate: €8,000/15,000

Poet Ferdowsi (d. 1020) spent about thirty years writing the Shâhnâmeh , or “Book of Kings”, the historical and mythological epic of Iran’s heroes from the beginning of the world until the mid-seventh century Arab conquest. He not only transcribed the thousand distichs written by poet Daqiqi, but added 60,000 of his own. The monumental work compiles Indo-Iranian myths and Parthian legends in Persian—a first in a…

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