Walters Ms. W.677, Four leaves from a Shahnama

W.677

Four leaves from a Shahnama

Vernacular: شاهنامه

Authority name: Firdawsī

Supplied name: Abū al-Qāsim Ḥasan ibn Isḥāq Firdawsī Ṭūsī

Name, in vernacular: ابو القاسم حسن بن اسحاق فردوسى طوسى

Note: Author dates preferred by cataloger: d. 411 or 416 AH / 1020-5 CE

These four leaves come from a dispersed illustrated and illuminated manuscript of Firdawsī's Shāhnāmah (Book of kings), commissioned by Qawām al-Dawlah wa-al-Dīn Ḥasan, vizier to the Inju governor in Fars province. It was copied by Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ḥusaynī in 741 AH / 1341 CE. The text is written in black nastaʿlīq script with chapter headings in red, blue, and black taʿlīq script. The dispersal of the manuscript occurred in the early fourteenth century AH / twentieth CE, and over one-half of its leaves are extant and housed in public and private collections. The illuminated folio with the year of the manuscript's completion and a dedication to the patron is housed in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (S1986.110 and S1986.111), and the folio with the colophon and finispiece is housed in the Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Collection (IR.M. 6/I). The manuscript's illustrations have been associated with production in Shiraz. The Walters paintings are as follows: Zāl joins Miḥrāb in battling the Turanians, Battle of the Iranians and the Turanians, Execution of Afrāsiyāb, and Bahrām Gūr in a peasant’s house.

Ramaḍān 741 AH / 1341 CE

Iran

Supplied name: Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ḥusaynī

Name, in vernacular: حسن بن محمد بن على الحسينى

Note: Name does not appear on any of the leaves; see bibliography, Simpson

Leaf

Historical

Literary -- Poetry

The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.

Paper

Light beige paper

Foliation: 4

30.5 cm wide by 36.5 cm high

24.0 cm wide by 28.5 cm high

1. Columns: 6
2. Ruled lines: 30

1. Title: Shāhnāmah
2. Author: Firdawsī
3. Scribe: Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ḥusaynī
4. Hand note: Main text written in black nastaʿlīq script; chapter headings written in red, blue, and black taʿlīq script
5. Decoration note: Four illustrations

fol. W.677Aa:

1. 
2. Title: Bahrām Gūr in a peasant’s house
3. Form: Illustration

fol. W.677Ab:

1. 
2. Title: Text page
3. Form: Text page
4. Label: This text page is the back of the illustration Bahrām Gūr in a peasant’s house.

fol. W.677Ba:

1. 
2. Title: Execution of Afrāsiyāb
3. Form: Illustration

fol. W.677Bb:

1. 
2. Title: Text page
3. Form: Text page
4. Label: This text page is the back of the illustration Execution of Afrāsiyāb.

fol. W.677Ca:

1. 
2. Title: Battle of the Iranians and the Turanians
3. Form: Illustration

fol. W.677Cb:

1. 
2. Title: Text page
3. Form: Text page
4. Label: This text page is the back of the illustration Battle of the Iranians and the Turanians.

fol. W.677Da:

1. 
2. Title: Zāl joins Miḥrāb in battling the Turanians
3. Form: Illustration

fol. W.677Db:

1. 
2. Title: Text page
3. Form: Text page
4. Label: This text page is the back of the illustration Zāl joins Miḥrāb in battling the Turanians.

Name: Dikran Kelekian

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

Grube, Ernst J., and Maria Alberta Fabris. Muslim Miniature Paintings from the XIII to XIX Century from Collections in the United States and Canada: Catalogue of the Exhibition. (Venezia: N. Pozza, 1962), 33-35.

Simpson, Marianna Shreve. "A Reconstruction and Preliminary Account of the 1341 Shahnama with some Further Thoughts on Early Shahnama Illustration." In Persian Painting from the Mongols to the Qajars. Robert Hillenbrand, ed. London; New York: I.B. Tauris, 2000), 215-247.

Binyon, Laurence, J. V. S. Wilkinson, and Basil Gray. Persian Miniature Painting. (London: Oxford University Press, 1933), no. 24.

Stchoukine, Ivan. La Peinture iranienne sous les derniers 'Abbasids et les Il-Khans. (Bruges: Imprimerie Sainte Catherine, 1936), 93-94; no. XIX.

Corbin, Henri et al. Les arts de l'Iran, L'Ancienne Perse et Baghdad (Paris: Bibliotheque nationale, 1938), 21; no. 21.

Robinson, Basil W. et al. The Keir Collection: Islamic Painting and the Arts of the Book. (London: Faber Limited, 1976), 135; nos. III.4-III.5.

Hillenbrand, Robert. Imperial Images in Persian Painting. (Edinburgh: Scottish Arts Council, 1977), nos. 64, 136-138, 207.

Soudavar, Abolala. Art of the Persian Courts: Selections from the Art and History Trust Collection (New York: Rizzoli, 1992), 43-44, no. 14.

Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam

Catalogers: Landau, Amy; Smith, Sita

Editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Jewell, Stephanie; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Barrera, Christina; Emery, Doug; Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William; Simpson, Shreve; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara

The Walters Art Museum

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