Collection Online as of November 30, 2023

Page from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (Persian, about 934–1020)

1520–40

Part of a set. See all set records

attributed to Mir Musavvir

(Iranian, c. 1510–1555)

Iran, Tabriz, Safavid period

(1501-1722)

Gum tempera, ink, gold, and silver on paper

Sheet: 47.5 x 32.2 cm (18 11/16 x 12 11/16 in.); Text area: 28.4 x 18.5 cm (11 3/16 x 7 5/16 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1988.96.b

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The 50,000 rhyming couplets of the <em>Shahnama</em> tell the story of ancient kings of Iran.

Description

Begun at the end of the reign of Shah Ismail (reigned 1501–24), first king of the Safavid dynasty of Iran, this copy of the Shah-nama (Book of Kings) was completed during the reign of his son Shah Tahmasp. Unparalleled in scope and refinement, the book included 259 paintings by master artists in the royal workshop. Two calligraphers copied the text in an elegant, flowing nasta‘liq script. In 1568, Shah Tahmasp gave this book as a gift to the Ottoman sultan Selim II of Turkey.

Inscriptions

Inscription

Script: Nasta'liq

Provenance

1520s–1567

Shah Tahmasp شاه تهماسب یکم‎ [1514–1576], Iran, given to Ottoman Sultan Selim II

1567–?

Ottoman Sultan Selim II [1524–1574], Istanbul, Ottoman Empire

until early 1900s

Topkapı Palace library, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire

early 1900s–?

Baron Edmond de Rothschild [1845–1934], Boulogne-Billancourt, France

?–October 14, 1988

Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. [1906–1990] ¹

October 14, 1988

(Christie's, London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1988–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Provenance Footnotes

¹Arthur Amory Houghton Jr. was an American industrialist who served as the president of Steuben Glass Works, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Philharmonic.

Citations

Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Reproduced: pp. 166-167

Exhibition history

Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016).