Folio from a dispersed copy of the Shahnama (Book of kings) by Firdawsi mounted; text: Persian in black nasta'liq script; recto: text, four columns, nineteen lines; verso: illustration and text, Gudarz slays Piran on the mountain, inscription on the banner; the facing folio (S1986.264); one of a group of twenty-five folios.
Border: The painting is set in gold, red, purple, green and blue rulings on paper with landscape and animal motifs painted in gold; the text is set in gold, red and blue rulings on cream-colored paper.
Inscriptions:
On banner, "help from God and victory and an imminent conquest from God; [From Sura al-Saf, sura 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.
