The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 16, 2024
Page from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (Persian, about 934–1020)
1520–40
attributed to Mir Musavvir
(Iranian, c. 1510–1555)
Sheet: 47.5 x 32.2 cm (18 11/16 x 12 11/16 in.); Text area: 28.4 x 18.5 cm (11 3/16 x 7 5/16 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1988.96.b
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
The 50,000 rhyming couplets of the Shahnama tell the story of ancient kings of Iran.Description
Begun at the end of the reign of Shah Ismail (reigned 1501–24), first king of the Safavid dynasty of Iran, this copy of the Shah-nama (Book of Kings) was completed during the reign of his son Shah Tahmasp. Unparalleled in scope and refinement, the book included 259 paintings by master artists in the royal workshop. Two calligraphers copied the text in an elegant, flowing nasta‘liq script. In 1568, Shah Tahmasp gave this book as a gift to the Ottoman sultan Selim II of Turkey.- 1520s–1567Shah Tahmasp شاه تهماسب یکم [1514–1576], Iran, given to Ottoman Sultan Selim II1567–?Ottoman Sultan Selim II [1524–1574], Istanbul, Ottoman Empireuntil early 1900sTopkapı Palace library, Istanbul, Ottoman Empireearly 1900s–?Baron Edmond de Rothschild [1845–1934], Boulogne-Billancourt, France?–October 14, 1988Arthur A. Houghton, Jr. [1906–1990]October 14, 1988(Christie's, London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1988–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OHProvenance Footnotes1 Arthur Amory Houghton Jr. was an American industrialist who served as the president of Steuben Glass Works, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Philharmonic.
- Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Reproduced: pp. 166-167Provenance Footnotes1 Arthur Amory Houghton Jr. was an American industrialist who served as the president of Steuben Glass Works, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Philharmonic.
- Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016).Provenance Footnotes1 Arthur Amory Houghton Jr. was an American industrialist who served as the president of Steuben Glass Works, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Philharmonic.
- {{cite web|title=Page from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (Persian, about 934–1020)|url=false|author=Mir Musavvir|year=1520–40|access-date=16 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}Provenance Footnotes1 Arthur Amory Houghton Jr. was an American industrialist who served as the president of Steuben Glass Works, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Philharmonic.
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1988.96.b