Matthew Thomas
Senior Specialist
Lot 15•
A lithograph copy of Firdausi's Shahnama, with 60 illustrations, the preface and vols. III and IV copied by 'Abd al-Karim ibn Muhammad Ibrahim al-Tabataba'i al-Isfahani al-Ardastani Bombay, in the printing house of Muhammad Baqir Shirazi dated between AH 1275/AD 1858-59 and towards the end of Sha'ban 1275/early April 1859
30 March 2021, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£1,500 - £2,000
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A lithograph copy of Firdausi's Shahnama, with 60 illustrations, the preface and vols. III and IV copied by 'Abd al-Karim ibn Muhammad Ibrahim al-Tabataba'i al-Isfahani al-Ardastani
Bombay, in the printing house of Muhammad Baqir Shirazi dated between AH 1275/AD 1858-59 and towards the end of Sha'ban 1275/early April 1859
Bombay, in the printing house of Muhammad Baqir Shirazi dated between AH 1275/AD 1858-59 and towards the end of Sha'ban 1275/early April 1859
lithograph on paper, 305 leaves, 37 lines to the page in nasta'liq script in six columns, headings in nasta'liq script within decorated panels, catchwords, page numbers, 60 illustrations, mostly quarter-page, several three-quarter-page, opening prose preface (incomplete), monochrome decorated opening headpiece, full-page decoration and illustration preceding this, four further monochrome decorated section endpieces and headpieces, section 5 probably incomplete, later cloth binding
300 x 205 mm.
300 x 205 mm.
Footnotes
For a similar lithograph copy of the Shahnama, by the scribe Muhammad Ibrahim (perhaps the same person as the present lot), and printed in Bombay in 1856, see the sale in these rooms, Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, 26th October 2020, lot 18.
The text starts in the middle of the (incomplete) prose preface which lists the various copies of the Shahnama, including Persian and Indian copies, scribes' names, dates and the number of couplets in each, which were used to produce this copy. A colophon at the end of the preface gives the name of the scribe as 'Abd al-Karim ibn Muhammad Ibrahim al-Tabataba'i al-Isfahani and is dated AH 1275/AD 1858-59. It also adds that he did not copy sections 1 and 2. Another colophon (facing the above page) gives the scribe's name as 'Abd al-Karim al-Tabataba'i al-Isfahani al-Ardastani and the date again, AH 1275/AD 1858-59. There then follows a large image, before the beginning of the text, showing Ayaz, the favourite of Sultan Mahmud, and the four court poets at the court of Sultan Mahmud. A colophon at the end of section 1 lacks the scribe's name but is dated 28th Muharram 1276/27th August 1859).
The different sections were apparently not copied in order: the colophon of the first section is dated later (28th Muharram 1276/27th August 1859) than the fourth section (towards the end of Sha'ban 1275/early April 1859).
The opening to section 2 states it was printed in Bombay. The opening to section 3 gives the information that it was printed in the print house of Aqa Mirza Muhammad Baqir Sahib Shirazi in Bombay. The colophon of section 4 says: as ordered [name not given] the 4th volume of the Shahnama from the beginning together with additions was completed in the print house of Muhammad Baqir Sahib Shirazi in the port of Bombay by 'Abd al-Karim ibn Muhammad Ibrahim al-Tabataba'i al-Isfahani al-Ardastani, towards the end of Sha'ban 1275 (early April 1859).
The scribe is mentioned by Mehdi Bayani as being a little-known figure of the 19th Century, who has two recorded works, one in the Gulistan Palace Library in Tehran dated AH 1269/AD 1852-53) and the other which appeared on the art market dated AH 1265/AD 1848-49. (M. Bayani, Ahval va athar-e khawshnavisan, vol. 2, Tehran 1346, pp. 412-13).