IO Islamic 3682 (Oriental Manuscripts, British Library)

India Office Library

Shahnamah

1 copy of Shāh'nāmah by Firdawsī

Illuminated and illustrated copy of Firdawsī's Shāhnāmah with the preface of Bāysunghur Mīrzā

Colophon: Copied by Dūst Muḥammad ibn Darvīsh Muḥammad Karbalāʾī al-Darakhchī? apparently in Rabāʻ al-ākhir 850/1446. The year, howeve,r has been altered and can be more correctly read as 1050/1640.

Includes 48 paintings, six signed by Muḥammad Yūsuf, a prolific artist during the reigns of the Safavid rulers Shah Safi (r. 1629-42) and Shah ʻAbbas II (r. 1642-66).

Includes inscriptions by a former owner?, Framjee Shapoorkee Dhunjeibhoy, dated.

See: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2013/12/an-overlooked-17th-century-illustrated-shahnamah.html

Language(s): Persian

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: Some folios severely damaged from corrosive iron gall ink.

Extent: 524 ff.

Dimensions (leaf): 356 × 222 mm.

Dimensions (written):

Hand(s)

Nastaʻlīq

Decoration

Includes 48 miniature paintings, six signed by the Safavid artist Muḥammad Yūsuf.

History

Origin: Rabīʿ II 1050 AH; 1640 CE ; Iran, Mashhad (?)

Provenance and Acquisition

Previously belonged to Framjee Shapoorkee Dhunjeibhoy.

1904-04-30

Acquired by India Office through Sir George Birdword from the Bombay Fort Post Office (30 April 1904).

Record Sources

Enhanced from unpublished description in Catalogue of Persian Manuscripts in the India Office Library, vol. 3. Available on British Library Digitised Manuscripts, manuscript number: MSS Eur E207/15_f003r

Availability

Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card for admissions procedures contact British Library, Registering for a Reader Pass. Contact apac-enquiries@bl.uk for further information on the availability of this manuscript. For information on catalogues and ordering manuscripts see Finding and ordering Persian manuscripts in the British Library.

Union Catalogue of Manuscripts from the Islamicate World