Back in Dahistan the Turanians defeat the Iranians and take Shah Nauzar prisoner. With news of the Turanian rout in Zabul, Afrasiyab pillories Nauzar and beheads him. The Turanians march across Iran, and Afrasiyab sits on the throne. With this victory come the vast riches of the Iranian treasury, which servants parade before him. One year later famine descends on Iran and Turan, and the two enemies are forced to agree to an armistice.
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Title:"Afrasiyab on the Iranian Throne", Folio 105r from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp
Author:Abu'l Qasim Firdausi (Iranian, Paj ca. 940/41–1020 Tus)
Artist:Painting attributed to Bashdan Qara (Iranian, active ca. 1525–1535)
Date:ca. 1525–30
Geography:Made in Iran
Medium:Opaque watercolor, ink, silver, and gold on paper
Dimensions:Painting: H. 11 5/8 in. (29.5 cm) W. 7 7/16 in. (18.9 cm) Entire Page: H. 18 9/16 in. (47.1 cm) W. 12 1/2 in. (31.8 cm)
Classification:Codices
Credit Line:Gift of Arthur A. Houghton Jr., 1970
Object Number:1970.301.16
Three folios from the Shahnama of Shah Tamasp: MMA 1970.301.16, .20, and.38
These paintings come from the most profusely illustrated and one of the most beautiful versions of the Iranian national epic—the Shahnama (Book of Kings). Produced for the second Safavid shah, Tahmasp (r. 1524–76), at his capital, Tabriz, in the 1520s and 1530s, the manuscript was broken up in America in 1970 for the sake of its paintings. Fit for a king, this Shahnama was sent as a gift from Shah Tamasp to the Ottoman sultan, Selim II (r. 1566–74) in 1567 to mark his accession to the throne. This presentation was recorded in a well-known double page painting illustrating a history of Selim's reign (see fig. 6 in this volume). This remarkable work seems to have spent much of the intervening period in the Ottoman royal library in Istanbul, although its 258 paintings are today dispersed throughout the world.[1]
The text includes innumerable references to royal largesse, which could be used both to anger and to please, as well as passages giving long lists from one ruler to another.[2] Among its many illustrations, the Tamasp Shahnama also presents a number of depictions of gift giving.
Linda Komaroff in [Komaroff 2011]
Footnotes
1. For a brief summary of this important manuscript in the context of early Safavid book art, see Thompson, John, and Sheila R. Canby, eds. Hunt for Paradise: Court Arts of Safavid Iran, 1501–1576. Milan: Skira; London: Thames and Hudson, 2003, pp. 80–84.
2. See: "Gift Giving 1." Encyclopedia Iranica, vol. 10, 606. See, for example Firsausi. The Shahnama of Firdausi. Translated by A.G. Warner and Edmond Warner. London: Kegan Paul, 1905–25, vol. 6, pp. 175–76, for gifts exchanged between Sikander and the King of Yemen, and vol. 8, pp. 306–8, for a list of lavish gifts from the Byzantine "Caesar" to Khusraw Parviz.
Shah Tahmasp, Iran (until 1567; gifted to Selim II); Sultan Selim II (Turkish), Istanbul (from 1567); Sultan Selim III, Istanbul (by 1800); Baron Edmond James de Rothschild (French), Paris (by 1903–d. 1934); his son, Baron Maurice de Rothschild (French), Paris and Geneva (1934–d. 1957); his son, Baron Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild, Paris and Geneva (1957–59); [ Stiebel Ltd., New York, until 1959; sold to Houghton]; Arthur A. Houghton Jr., New York (1959–70; gifted to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A King's Book of Kings: Persian Miniatures from Shah Tahmasp's Shahnama of 1528," May 4–December 31, 1972, no catalog.
Los Angeles. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts," June 5, 2011–September 5, 2011, no. 145.
Houston. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Gifts of the Sultan: The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts," October 23, 2011–January 15, 2012, no. 145.
Mohl, Jules, ed. Le Livre des Rois. Vol. I. Paris, 1876. pp. 334–36.
Migeon, Gaston. "Exposition des Arts Musulmans au Musee des Arts Decoratifs." Les Arts no. 16 (1903).
Welch, Stuart Cary. A King's Book of Kings: the Shah-nameh of Shah Tahmasp. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1972. pp. 140–43, ill. pp. 140, 142–43, folio 105r (color, b/w).
Dickson, Martin, and Stuart Cary Welch. The Houghton Shahnameh. Vol. vols. I & II. Cambridge, Mass. and London, England: Harvard University Press, 1981. vol. II, ill. pl. 81 (b/w).
Canby, Sheila R. "The Drawings and Paintings of Riza-Yi Abbasi of Isfahan." In The Rebellious Reformer
. London: Azimuth Editions, 1996. p. 225, ill. fig. 12 (b/w).
Canby, Sheila R. The Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp : The Persian Book of Kings. Madrid, 2011. p. 101, ill. folio 105r (color).
Komaroff, Linda, ed. "The Arts of Giving at the Islamic Courts." In Gifts of the Sultan. Los Angeles; New Haven and London: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2011. no. 145, pp. 32–33, 260, ill. fig. 26 (color).
Canby, Sheila R. The Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp : The Persian Book of Kings. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014. pp. 143, 45, 324, ill. fol. 105r, full color ill. on p. 143; details on p.45, 324.
Abu'l Qasim Firdausi (Iranian, Paj ca. 940/41–1020 Tus)
last quarter 15th century
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