Ferdowsi - Shahnameh - Ferdowsi - 1590

An illuminated manuscript page, on hand made paper sprinkled with gold, from a C16th copy of the Shahnameh, likely scribed in Kashmir, and written in high quality 'nasta'liq'. The folio consists of four equal columns of script. Two illuminated decorative 'Surah' written in Thuluth script (white) within a gold cartouche, containing arabesque floral decoration, cut cross the central two columns. Floral book-ends in celestial blue and gold and a frame in blue enclose the Surah.

The inter-columnar script dividers are a relatively simple patterns of red and white diamond shapes connected by thin black lines on gold. The whole is framed by an unusually large number of linear columns in multiple colours including red, blue, green and gold shades. This together with the fact that the whole page is lightly sprinkled with gold, would indicate this had importance.

The main themes in this folio are 'Battle', diplomacy through the exchange of letters and mention of envoys; peace making - the lower heading begins 'suth kardan" ("making peace") - and the rivalry between Iranian and Turainian forces. Turan refers to the vast territory north of Iran, situated beyond the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya). It spanned parts of modern-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and northern Afghanistan.

The Shahnameh, Book of Kings, is an epic composed by the Iranian poet Hakim Abul-Qasim Mansur (later known as Ferdowsi Tusi). In its original form, The Shahnameh contains 62 stories, told in 990 chapters with 50,000 rhyming couplets. It is divided into three parts—the mythical, heroic, and historical ages. The ad hoc editing by subsequent scribes ,as well as errors, has resulted in every existing manuscript copy being different in content and length - lengths from less than 50,000 to around 60,000 verses.

Ferdowsi began the composition 977 CE, when eastern Iran was under Samanid rule. It took him thirty three years to complete his epic (1010CE), by which time the rule of eastern Iran had passed to the Turkoman Ghaznavids. The Shahnameh was written in classical Persian when the language was emerging from its Middle Persian Pahlavi roots, and at a time when Arabic was the favoured language of literature. As such, Ferdowsi is seen as a national Iranian hero who re-ignited pride in Iranian culture and literature, and who established the Persian language as a language of beauty and sophistication. Ferdowsi wrote: "the Persian language is revived by this work."

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