Miniature from a copy of Firdawsi’s Shahnama. ‘Mubad-i Mubadan Brings Food to the Captive Vizier Izad-i Gashasp’
Iran, Tabriz (?); between 1300 and 1340
Leaf: 24.5 × 18.5 cm
Inventory number 12/1990
The manuscripts that were made in the Mongol or Il-Khanid period have both features from ‘Arab painting’ and elements from Far Eastern art. This painting is quite Arab in expression, while scenes with warriors and landscapes display Chinese inspiration to a higher degree.
The first extant copies of Firdawsi’s famous 11th-century Persian epic, the Book of Kings, were written under the Il-Khanids. This miniature comes from one of the “small Shahnamas” that are considered by some to be precursors of the period’s more mature masterpiece, the great ‘Mongolian Shahnama.’
The first extant copies of Firdawsi’s famous 11th-century Persian epic, the Book of Kings, were written under the Il-Khanids. This miniature comes from one of the “small Shahnamas” that are considered by some to be precursors of the period’s more mature masterpiece, the great ‘Mongolian Shahnama.’
Published in
Published in
Sotheby’s, London, 7/7-1975, lot 22;
Sotheby’s, London, 12/10-1990, lot 156;
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat. 26;
Kjeld von Folsach: For the Privileged Few: Islamic Miniature Painting from The David Collection, Louisiana, Humlebæk 2007, cat. 7;
Oliver Watson: "The case of the Ottoman table" in Journal of the David Collection, 3, 2010, fig. 25, p. 39;
Joachim Meyer and Peter Wandel: Shahnama: the Colorful Epic About Iran’s Past, The David Collection, Copenhagen 2016, cat. 54;
Joachim Meyer, Rasmus Bech Olsen and Peter Wandel: Beyond words: calligraphy from the World of Islam, The David Collection, Copenhagen 2024, cat. 89, pp. 246-247;
http://shahnama.caret.cam.ac.uk/new/jnama/card/cemanuscript:1077277358;
Sotheby’s, London, 12/10-1990, lot 156;
Kjeld von Folsach: Art from the World of Islam in The David Collection, Copenhagen 2001, cat. 26;
Kjeld von Folsach: For the Privileged Few: Islamic Miniature Painting from The David Collection, Louisiana, Humlebæk 2007, cat. 7;
Oliver Watson: "The case of the Ottoman table" in Journal of the David Collection, 3, 2010, fig. 25, p. 39;
Joachim Meyer and Peter Wandel: Shahnama: the Colorful Epic About Iran’s Past, The David Collection, Copenhagen 2016, cat. 54;
Joachim Meyer, Rasmus Bech Olsen and Peter Wandel: Beyond words: calligraphy from the World of Islam, The David Collection, Copenhagen 2024, cat. 89, pp. 246-247;
http://shahnama.caret.cam.ac.uk/new/jnama/card/cemanuscript:1077277358;
Miniature Paintings
Miniature from a copy of Bidpai’s Kalila wa Dimna. ‘The Fox and the Drum’
Miniature from a copy of Firdawsi’s Shahnama made for Qiwamuddawla wa’l-Din Hasan. ‘Iskandar Contemplates the Peoples Gog and Magog’
Double frontispiece painting from a copy of Firdawsi’s Shahnama. ‘A Princely Couple with Courtiers in a Garden’
Miniature from Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi’s Kitab suwar al-kawakib. ‘The Constellation Gemini’