Detached folio from a dispersed copy of the Shahnama (Book of kings) by Firdawsi; text: Persian in black nasta'liq script; recto: Ruhham carries away the severed arm of the Turanian sorcerer, inscription on the banner; verso: text, four columns, twenty-five lines; one of a group of twenty-five folios.
Border: The painting is set in gold, red and blue rulings on paper with vegetal motifs; the text is set in gold, red and blue rulings on cream-colored paper.
Inscriptions:
Recto, on banner: help from God and present victory. Give good tidings (O Muhammad) to believers Sura al-Saf (the Ranks) 61:13.
Provenance:
To 1910
Reza Khan Monif, Paris, France. [1]
From 1910 to 1942
Henri Vever (1854-1942), Paris and Noyers, France, purchased from Reza Khan Monif, Paris, France on October 14, 1910. [2]
From 1942 to 1986
Family member, Paris and Boulogne, France, by inheritance from Henri Vever, Paris and Noyers, France. [3]
From 1986
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, purchased from a family member, Paris and Boulogne, France. [4]
Notes:
[1] See Susan Nemazee, "Appendix 7: Chart of Recent Provenance" in An Annotated and Illustrated Checklist of the Vever Collection, Glenn D. Lowry et al. (Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1988), p. 407. See also Glen D. Lowry and Susan Nemazee, "Appendix 2: Ledger of Acquisitions, 1894 and 1907-17" in A Jeweler’s Eye: Islamic Arts of the Book from the Vever Collection (Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1988), p. 230.
[2] See note 1.
[3] See the Agreement for the Purchase and Sale of the Henri Vever Collection of January 9, 1986, Collections Management Office.
