Shahnameh, Fragment

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A leaf from a copy of Shahnama ("Book of Kings"). Shahnameh or Shahnama is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi (Persian: ابوالقاسم فردوسی توسی ), also known as Firdawsi or Ferdowsi (فردوسی) between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran; it recounts the history of pre-Islamic Persia or Iranshahr (Greater Iran). Nighty-eight couplets of Shahname from before the beginning of “Dastan-ɘ Bæhram ba Kɘshavarz” (The story of Bahram and the Farmer) until half-way into the story, written in a 16th or early 17th century fragment of on indigenous Iranian paper in Nasta’liq script. -- Description by by Sohrab Mosahebi as part of coursework for a manuscript studies class with Dr. Adrienne Williams Boyarin, June 2022. Description by Jan Just Witkam, Professor of Paleography and Codicology of the Islamic World, Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands (2010): Persian, indigenous Persian paper, one single leaf, 34.5 × 22.2 cm, expert nastaʿlīq script from Iran, text on either side of the leaf, written in four columns, and these columns set within a composite frame (blue, dark red, black, gold, green, gold within black outline, red), 25 lines to the column, held in passe-partout on which is written as an estimate dating: 18th century, which may very well be accurate. A leaf from a copy of the Shāhnāma by Abu al-Qāsim Aḥmad b. Mansụ̄r Firdawsī (c. 935-1020), coming from the Bahrām Gūr cycle. On the recto side is a chapter heading written in gold within a panel with floral design (brownred ink): Dāstān-i Bahrām bā Keshāwarz, ‘the story of Bahrām with the farmer’. The text of the fragment corresponds to the Moscow edition by E.E. Bertel’s, vol. 7 (Moscow 1968), pp. 377-383, distiches 1273-1369. Earlier registration: On the recto side is an ex-libris label from University of Victoria Library. Also on that page is a sticker with typewritten text in three lines: ‘(sc) PK6456 A2’. SC stands for ‘Special Collections’. Taken from The Islamic Manuscripts in the McPherson Library, University of Victoria, Victoria B.C. by Jan Just Witkam, Journal of Islamic Manuscripts 1 (2010), pp 101-142.

In Collection:
Creator Subject Language Identifier
  • Shelf Mark: MS Victoria 1998-034
Date created Resource type Rights statement Extent
  • 1 leaf ; 345 x 222 mm
Alternative title
  • Šāhnāme
  • شاهنامه
  • Fragment of Shahnameh (Dastan-ɘ Bæhram ba Kɘshavarz َ داستانَبهرامَباَکشاورز )
  • Abu al-Qasim Ahmad, Fragment
Geographic coverage Coordinates
  • 32, 53
Additional physical characteristics
  • Indigenous Iranian paper in Nasta’liq script.
Physical repository Collection
  • Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts Collection
Provider Genre Fonds title Fonds identifier Is referenced by Date digitized
  • October 12, 2022
Technical note
  • Metadata by KD.
Rights
  • Contact Special Collections and University Archives for access to the original manuscript and for reproduction requests (fee for reproductions). This material is made available on this site for research and private study only.
DOI

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file details MSVictoria1998-034_Recto Public
file details MSVictoria1998-034_Verso Public
file details MSVictoria1998-034_Transcript Public