Shāhʹnāmah / az ... Firdawsī Ṭūsī

Manuscript codex.

Title from colophon (leaf 501a).

Physical description: 25 lines per page in four columns, written in nastaʻlīq on glazed, laid European paper. Text framed in gold, red and black; columns framed in gold. Catchwords. Headings in red. Leaf 2 consists of two leaves pasted together; leaf 2a contains part of a prose introduction. Paginated in Persian numerals: leaf 2a is marked 16 and leaf 2b is marked 25, indicating substantial loss of the prose introduction. Leaves 3, 95 detached; leaf 59 detached and moved to its correct location after leaf 43; leaves 196-198 detached and moved to their correct location after leaf 119. A few single leaves missing throughout manuscript, likely containing miniatures that were detached and sold separately (according to note on page 3 of cover, there were 42 miniatures at one time), Numerous repairs and some staining.

Decoration: Contains 18 miniatures, which are now damaged to varying degrees; scenes illustrated include the Sīmurgh rescuing Zāl (leaf 26b) and Rustam slaying the White Dīv (leaf 65v). Leaf 2a illuminated above and to the left of the text with cupolas decorated with a floral pattern of orange, pink and green on a green-gray ground. Below the text is an illustration of a man leading a horse with an elephant's trunk above him; the illustration is set within a diamond shape which itself is contained in a rectangle containing the same floral pattern as the cupolas. Leaf 2b contains a cupola-shaped ʻunvān decorated with the same floral pattern as leaf 2a but on a lavender ground.

Islamic cate binding that has been rebacked. Dark brown goatskin with gold-stamped central lozenge, pendants and cornerpieces and blind-stamped fillets. Green paper doublures.