Shahnama of Firdausi
The Shahnama is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Firdausi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 “distichs” or couplets, it is the world’s longest epic poem written by a single poet.
From Gallery Text :
The Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp
The Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp (r. 1524–76), also known as the Shahnama-yi Shahi, is arguably the most luxuriously illustrated copy of Firdausi’s epic ever produced in the history of Persian painting
This project was realized at the royal atelier in Tabriz, the first capital of the Safavid dynasty, and involved two generations of the most renowned artists of the time. Among them were Sultan Muhammad, Mir Musavvir, and Aqa Mirak, who succeeded each other as directors of the project through the years. Scholars still disagree about the actual dates of execution of the manuscript. It was begun around the early 1520s, probably under Shah Isma‘il (r. 1501–24), the founder of the dynasty, and carried out for at least another twenty years under Shah Tahmasp, the manuscript’s dedicatee and principal sponsor.
https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/shnm/hd_shnm.htm
From Gallery Text :
The Feast of Sada”, Folio 22v from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp,
Abu’l Qasim Firdausi
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/452111
Gallery Text :
Rustam’s Fourth Course, He Cleaves a Witch”, Folio 120v from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp,
Abu’l Qasim Firdausi
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/452126
Some more folio
“Bahram Gur Pins the Coupling Onagers”, Folio 568r from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp
“The Angel Surush Rescues Khusrau Parviz from a Cul-de-sac”, Folio 708v from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp
Author: Abu’l Qasim Firdausi (935–1020)
Artist: Painting attributed to Muzaffar ‘Ali (active late 1520s–70s; d. ca. 1576)
