Enrica Medugno
Sale Coordinator
Lot 6†,R
An illustrated leaf from a manuscript of Firdausi's Shahnama depicting Rustam, his horse impaled in a pit of spikes, killing Shaghad Persia, perhaps Isfahan, 17th Century
23 May 2023, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£1,500 - £2,000
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Oliver White
Head of Department
An illustrated leaf from a manuscript of Firdausi's Shahnama depicting Rustam, his horse impaled in a pit of spikes, killing Shaghad
Persia, perhaps Isfahan, 17th Century
Persia, perhaps Isfahan, 17th Century
Persian manuscript on paper, gouache and gold on paper, text written in nasta'liq script in black ink within gold cloudbands in four columns, intercolumnar rules with stylised foliate motifs in blue and red, inner margins ruled in colours and gold, outer borders with fauna amidst foliage in gold, probably added later
text area 263 x 137 mm.; visible leaf 360 x 218 mm.
text area 263 x 137 mm.; visible leaf 360 x 218 mm.
Footnotes
Other leaves from this manuscript have appeared at auction: see Sotheby's, Fine Oriental Miniatures and Manuscripts, 10th October 1977, lot 136; Christie's, Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 4th April 2006, lot 149A (four leaves); 10th October 2006, lots 58 and 59 (two leaves each).
Comparison can also be drawn with a complete manuscript of the Shahnama, offered at Sotheby's, Arts of the Islamic World, 12th October 2000, lot 56, dated AH 1053-54/AD 1643-44, with thirty-two miniatures (two of which were attributed to Mu'in Musavvir). The style of the paintings, according to the catalogue footnote, combined a number of Persian regional schools, even north India. The red and blue floral motifs within the intercolumnar rules are also very similar. The outer margins, however, were not illuminated. Miniature no. 28 (not illustrated) was the same subject as our leaf.