Persian manuscript.- Leaf from an illustrated Shahnameh, commissioned by the library of Qiwam al-Dawla wa'l-Din Hasan, the vizier of Fars, with a later added gouache illustration of a battle scene with three horsemen, two of whom brandish swords, attacking a soldier on foot carrying a shield and also wielding a sword standing against a walled background with the heads of two figures looking on from windows, the rest of the background in red, text in small naskh script in black ink in 6 columns, red rules, some repaired tears and abrasions causing loss to text, edges frayed, some soiling and spotting, but generally legible and in good condition, 360 x 290mm., ?Shiraz, [at the end of the month of Ramadan in 741 AH, ie mid-March 1341AD].

⁂ A leaf from part 3 of this important illustrated Shahnameh, the colophon of which is now in the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto (AKM37v), and other leaves from which are located mostly in the Chester Beatty Library (CBL Per 110). The scribe mentioned on the colophon is Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn 'Ali ibn Husaini, known as al-Mausili. This section of the text, from the story of Bozorgmehr, covers Kasra Noushinravan.

The painting would appear to be a later addition, filling a space probably intentionally left blank at the time of copying the text, although there appear to be 42 missing verses between the last verse before the painting (102) on the recto and the first verse on verso (144). Bozorgmehr interprets the King's dream and gains favour at the court, later becoming the King's vizier, but there is no mention of a battle in the original text - the text focusses more on Bozorgmehr's advice to the King on how to rule - so the depicted scene appears to be something of an anomaly.

Literature: A Reconstruction and Preliminary Account of the 1341 Shahnama, with Some Further Thoughts on Early Shahnama Illustration in Hillenbrand (ed.) 2000, pp.236-245.