A Large Illuminated Leaf from a Manuscript Shahnameh, Persia, circa 1750

Object: Antique Persian Illuminated Manuscript

Material: Paper

Period: 18th century

Region/ Country of origin: Persia

Condition: Very good

Dimensions: 33 × 23 cm

An original leaf from a manuscript Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, created in Persia in the mid eighteenth century.

The leaf was hand-written with black ink on fine laid paper. Twenty five lines of farsi text in a beautifully scribed nastaliq script. The text is designed across four columns, each separated by double rules of gold.

The Shahnameh was composed around 1000 AD by Ferdowsi and is the national epic of Persia, re-telling in verse the history of Persia from the creation of the world until the Islamic conquest of the area in 700 AD.

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