id: 133449 accession number: 1956.10.b share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1956.10.b updated: 2023-08-23 21:19:00.321000 Preface (verso) from a double-page frontispiece of a Shahnama of Firdausi (940-1019 or 1025), c. 1444. Iran, Shiraz, Timurid period (1370-1501). Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper; overall: 32.7 x 22 cm (12 7/8 x 8 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1956.10.b title: Preface (verso) from a double-page frontispiece of a Shahnama of Firdausi (940-1019 or 1025) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1444 creation date earliest: 1435 creation date latest: 1449 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: Iran, Shiraz, Timurid period (1370-1501) technique: opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper department: Islamic Art collection: Islamic Art type: Manuscript find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 32.7 x 22 cm (12 7/8 x 8 11/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Persian Miniature Manuscripts opening date: 1977-08-13T04:00:00 Persian Miniature Manuscripts. The Scottish Arts Council Gallery, Edinburgh, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (August 13-September 11, 1977). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Philipp Walter Schulz [1864-1920], Leipzig, Germany date: by 1914 footnotes: citations: (Adrienne Minassian [1913-1994], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-1956 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1956- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: This text page is the first page of a Shahnama manuscript with an illuminated heading containing the basmala ("In the name of Allah, etc.") followed by the text of the preface to the Shahnama. wall description: The painting on the verso of this folio is the first half of a double-page frontispiece now detached from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) manuscript. CMA 1956.10 is the left half of the frontispiece.

As though setting the scene for royal stories and activities, these two opening pages of Iran’s national epic present a luxurious gathering in an idyllic outdoor setting. Groups of nobles and international diplomats have come bearing gifts, including costly vessels and hunting animals. From the upper left two trained cheetahs, a falcon, and horses are led into the scene. Drama and intrigue seem to be brewing, given the knowing glances and whispers between figures and the four men being driven away by a guard at the lower left. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned: cat. no. 722 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n132 Neils, Jenifer. “The Twain Shall Meet.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 72, no. 6, 1985, pp. 326–359. page number: Reproduced: no. 45, p. 350 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25159914 --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.10.b/1956.10.b_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.10.b/1956.10.b_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1956.10.b/1956.10.b_full.tif