annual gazette | 35
Art Gifts to the Pembroke Shahnameh Centre Firuza Abdullaeva-Melville This is a sequel to the essay in the 2020 Gazette on the millennium of the death of Abu’lQasim Ferdowsi, author of the legendary Shahnameh.
I would like to acknowledge our special gratitude for the very generous gifts, on top of the initial foundation endowment received from Ms Bita Daryabari, which the Pembroke Shahnameh Centre has already received during its relatively short life. These presents which we started to acquire from the very first day of our existence prove that the activities we offer, the vision we have and the direction we are moving towards are in great demand and appreciated by those who care about Persian culture in the West, and especially in the UK. The nature of the gifts shows that it is recognised in the outside world as the Centre where art and culture is valued and promoted at a particularly high level, successfully standing in line with more established Cambridge art institutions in Cambridge. On the occasion of its first jubilee the Pembroke Centre accepted with much gratitude several generous gifts, which were added to its collection of important Persian artefacts, established on the day of its inauguration on 24 May 2014. From Ali Javad The Shahriah Shanameh The Shahriar Shahnameh was offered by Ali Akbar Javad, whose friendship was established in 2014 at Harvard. Ali Javad, a private collector, businessman and screenwriter who migrated to the USA in 1975, resides in Washington D.C. He donated his unique manuscript, which he suggested to the Centre be named the ‘Shahriar Shahnama’ in memory of his late brother Dr Shahriar Javad, who had passed away less than two months earlier. The manuscript is interesting due to both its artistic characteristics and provenance, which shows that it found its way to America most likely after it was sold at Quaritch in London in 1901. According to the ex librises on its flyleaves, the book was in the possession of several American owners, including Lowell M. Palmer Weicker Sr. (1903–1978), governor of Connecticut and Mrs Elizabeth RobertsonMiller-Weicker-Fondaras, wealthy heiress and famous socialite of New York and Paris (1916–2012), who established academic scholarships in honour of her three husbands. Elizabeth spent quite a long time in France
Fig.1 King Kay Kavus ascending the sky on his flying machine with four eagles used as engine. He is shooting an arrow which is returned to him by angel who covers the arrow with the blood of fish. Shahriar Shahnameh, Iran, early 17th century
