Shahnama Project : Shahnama

Firdausi

Shahnama Project

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>Formerly Ethé 880. A Hailebury manuscript. An incomplete copy of the Shahnama, ending with the reign of Hurmuzd son of Shapur. There is no prose preface, and the text is not divided into sections. The ms. is bound in a 19th-century European calf binding.The ms. has a double illuminated title page for the start of the poem (ff. 1v-2r), of good quality but rather rubbed. It contains a copy of the Barzunama, inserted after the story of Bizhan and Manizha. Ten scenes from the Barzunama have been illustrated, a high proportion of the whole.Robinson dates the ms. to the decade 1590-1600, either Qazvin or Isfahan, but noting its slightly crude colouring and execution. Many miniatures have suffered from oxydisation, and from repainting in India. Two of them (ff. 40v, 138v) are entirely Indian and have been pasted onto the text, with which they have little connection.The order of the folios has been disturbed in the chaper on the Davazdah Rukh: the correct order (of the paintings) should be: f. 215r, 225r, 231r, 233r, 230r. In general, the text is a good copy, close to the standard edition of Mohl. (Ch.M.) BibliographyH. Ethé, Persian manuscripts in the India Office, London, 1903, p. 554 (no. 880)B.W. Robinson, Persian paintings in the India Office Library, London, 1976, pp. 192-6</p></p>