The Walters Art Museum 600 N. Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201 http://www.thewalters.org/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode Published 2009
NOTE: The pages in this book are ordered from right to left. This means that to view the pages in order, you should go the last page of the document and read what would be from “back-to-front� for a Western manuscript.
This document is a digital facsimile of a manuscript belonging to the Walters Art Museum, in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. It is one of a number of manuscripts that have been digitized as part of a project generously funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and by an anonymous donor to the Walters Art Museum. More details about the manuscripts at the Walters can be found by visiting The Walters Art Museum's website www.thewalters.org. For further information about this book, and online resources for Walters manuscripts, please contact us through the Walters Website by email, and ask for your message to be directed to the Department of Manuscripts.
Acquisition
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest
Binding
The binding is original. Lacquer boards (no flap); floral motifs with a bird in the central panel and inscriptions in the outer frame
Bibliography
Richard, Francis. Catalogue des manuscrits persans. (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1989), no. 99A.
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fol. 135b: Title: Isfandiyār kills a dragon (the third exploit) Form: Illustration fol. 136b: Title: Isfandiyār kills the witch (the fourth exploit) Form: Illustration fol. 137b: Title: Isfandiyār kills the sīmurgh (the fifth exploit) Form: Illustration fol. 138b: Title: Isfandiyār prays to stop a blizzard (the sixth exploit) Form: Illustration fol. 140a: Title: Isfandiyār kills Gurgsār (the seventh exploit) Form: Illustration fol. 142b: Title: Isfandiyār kills Arjāsp Form: Illustration fol. 154b: Title: Rustam kills Shaghād Form: Illustration fol. 157a: Title: Rustam shoots Isfandiyār Form: Illustration fol. 165b: Title: Alexander the Great mourns the dying Darius Form: Illustration fol. 169b: Title: Alexander the Great fights Fūr, the king of India Form: Illustration Provenance
Gift note from Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Ḥusayn Marāghī, known as Ṣanī al-Dawlah, to Nuṣrat Pāshā Mushīr, 18 Shaʿbān 1303 AH / 1885 CE (fol. 2a, left margin)
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Form: Illustration fol. 74b: Title: The execution of Siyāvush Form: Illustration fol. 80b: Title: Gīv captures Pīrān Form: Illustration fol. 89b: Title: Persians fighting Turanians Form: Illustration fol. 96b: Title: Rustam brings the body of the demon Akvān before Kay Khusraw Form: Illustration fol. 105b: Title: Rustam fights his grandson Barzū Form: Illustration fol. 112a: Title: Barzū receives permission from Kay Khusraw to fight Afrāsiyāb Form: Illustration fol. 120b: Title: Luhrāsp enthroned Form: Illustration fol. 129b: Title: Isfandiyār chained on the order of Gushtāsp Form: Illustration fol. 134a: Title: Isfandiyār and his brother Bishūtan kill two wolves (the first exploit) Form: Illustration fol. 134b: Title: Isfandiyār kills a lion (the second exploit) Form: Illustration
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Label: The subject of this scene, described in red nastaʿlīq script, is the killing of the legendary favorite son Īraj by his brother Tūr. fol. 30b: Title: Rustam kills the inhabitants of the fortress on the mountain Sipandān Form: Illustration fol. 42b: Title: Rakhsh, Rustam’s horse, kills a lion (the first feat) Form: Illustration fol. 43b: Title: Rustam kills a dragon (the second feat) Form: Illustration fol. 44b: Title: Rustam kills the witch who came to deceive him (the third feat) Form: Illustration fol. 45b: Title: Rustam fights Avlād (the fourth feat) Form: Illustration fol. 46b: Title: Avlād leads Rustam to Māzandarān (the fifth feat) Form: Illustration fol. 47b: Title: Rustam cuts off the head of Arzhang Dīv (the sixth feat) Form: Illustration fol. 48b: Title: Rustam kills the White Dīv (the seventh feat) Form: Illustration fol. 62b: Title: Rustam stabs his son Suhrāb Form: Illustration fol. 67a: Title: Sūrdābah kisses Siyāvush
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Collation
Catchwords: Written obliquely on versos
Dimensions
20.5 cm wide by 33.0 cm high
Written surface
15.0 cm wide by 28.5 cm high
Layout
Columns: 1 Ruled lines: 17
Contents
fols. 1b - 176b: Title: Tārīkh-i dilgushā-yi Shamshīrkhānī Incipit: Hand note: Written in nastaʿlīq script in black and red ink Decoration note: Thirty-three illustrations; incipit page
Decoration
Upper board outside: Title: Binding Form: Binding Label: This lacquer binding, decorated with floral motifs, a bird, and inscriptions around the outer frame, dates to the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE. fol. 1b: Title: Incipit page with illuminated headpiece Form: Incipit Label: This incipit page with illuminated headpiece is inscribed with the doxological formula (basmalah) in the central cartouche. fol. 6b: Title: Zaḥḥāk after Satan kissed his shoulder and two snakes arose Form: Illustration fol. 12b: Title: Jamshīd halved before Zaḥḥāk Form: Illustration fol. 22b: Title: Tūr kills his brother Īraj Form: Illustration
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Shelf mark
Walters Art Museum Ms. W.597
Descriptive Title
Abridgment of the Book of kings (Shahnama)
Text title
Tārīkh-i dilgushā-yi Shamshīrkhānī Vernacular: Note: Title given in the colophon as Kitāb-i Shāhnāmah mawsūm bi-Shamshīrkhānī; composed for Shamshīr Khān Shamshīr Khān Ḥākim-i Ghaznīn (fol. 2a)
Author
As-written name: Tavakkul Bīk (Beg) valad Tūlak Bīk (Beg) Ḥusaynī Name, in vernacular: Note: Author's name given on fol. 2a, line 2
Abstract
This is an illuminated and illustrated copy of an abridgment of Firdawsī's Shāhnāmah (Book of kings) entitled Tārīkhi dilgushā-yi Shamshīrkhānī. It was composed in prose by Tavakkul Beg Ḥusaynī (fl. eleventh century AH / seventeenth CE) for Shamshīr Khān of Ghaznīn (Ghaznī or Ghaznah in present-day Afghanistan). Completed in the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE in India, possibly Lahore, the text is written in nastaʿlīq script and illustrated by thirty-three paintings.
Date
13th century AH / 19th CE
Origin
Northwest India
Form
Book
Genre
Historical
Genre
Literary -- Prose
Language
The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.
Support material
Paper Laid paper
Extent
Foliation: 176+i First folio mounted on green cloth
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This document is a digital facsimile of a manuscript belonging to the Walters Art Museum, in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. It is one of a number of manuscripts that have been digitized as part of a project generously funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and by an anonymous donor to the Walters Art Museum. More details about the manuscripts at the Walters can be found by visiting The Walters Art Museum's website www.thewalters.org. For further information about this book, and online resources for Walters manuscripts, please contact us through the Walters Website by email, and ask for your message to be directed to the Department of Manuscripts.
A digital facsimile of Walters Ms. W.597, Abridgment of the Book of kings (Shahnama) Title: Tārīkh-i dilgushā-yi Shamshīrkhānī
Published by: The Walters Art Museum 600 N. Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21201 http://www.thewalters.org/
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode Published 2011