Shahnama Project : Shahnama

Firdausi

Shahnama Project

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>This manuscript has been described and discussed by Lucy-Anne Hunt, The Mingana & related collections. A survey of illustrated Arabic, Greek, Eastern Christian, Persian and Turkish manuscripts in the Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham. Birmingham, 1997, pp. 80-83.Muhammad Isa Waley (pers. comm.) has noted "off-white laid paper" and "Lacquered painted binding with impressed floral medallions, worn." He attributes some of the illustrations in this ms. to "c. 19th century". It seems clear that while the manuscript itself is quite handsome (probably 17th c.), and the paintings by one of the artists (Painter A) - presumably contemporary with the ms - are quite refined, the crude work of the other (Painter B) suggests a later date.B.W. Robinson, Persian miniature painting from the collections in the British Isles, London, 1967, p. 114, has noted the possible origin of the manuscript in Astarabad. In my opinion, the Astarabad attribution is supported by many similarities with the Cambridge Fitzwilliam ms. 311, including the colour scheme (of painter B at least), the close match between picture and text, and the placement of the pictures in the text (i.e. in between misra's). (Ch.M.).</p></p>