Shahnama Project : Shahnama (Ismail II)

Firdausi

Shahnama Project

<p style='text-align: justify;'><p>This set contains five paintings from the famous Shahnama made for the Safavid Shah Isma'il II (reg. 1576-77). They were not identified as such in the Chester Beatty catalogue, although correctly dated to the 1570s, see Arberry et al., III, p. 32.</p><p>Three of these pictures were exhibited in the V & A, see Robinson, Persian miniature painting from collections in the British Isles, 1967, p. 62, with references to earlier publications.</p><p>A reconstruction of the scattered folios of the ms was provided by B.W. Robinson, "Isma'il II's copy of the Shahnama", in 1976; since then, some additional folios have recently come to light (at Sam Fogg's, London, q.v.); these are described by Robinson in Iran 43 (2005), 291-99.</p><p>Most of the paintings are attributed to various among the foremost artists of the Safavid court; cf. Welch, Artists for the Shah, 1976.</p></p>