Book of Kings (Shahnama)

Description Walters manuscript W.600 is an illuminated and illustrated Safavid copy of the Book of kings (Shahnamah) by Firdawsi (died 411 or 416 AH/AD 1020-1025), dating to the 10th century AH/AD 16th. The text is largely written in black Nasta'liq script with headings in blue on a polychrome ground. The codex opens with an illuminated medallion (fol. 1a), followed by a double-page illuminated frontispiece (fols. 1b-2a), poorly preserved. The preface, ordered by Baysunghur in 829 AH/AD 1425-1426, begins on fol. 2b. The Shahnamah text begins on fol. 14b with an inscribed illuminated titlepiece. It is divided into 2 parts. Eighteen paintings illustrate the text. The black lacquer binding with lobed central ovals and pendants is not contemporary with the manuscript and dates to the 13th century AH/AD 19th.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
12/31/1969	Loan Consideration	examined for condition
12/31/1969	Loan Consideration	examined for loan

Exhibitions

• Mything Persons: Historic Figures in Legends of East and West. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1998.
• Paradise Imagined: Images of the Garden in the Islamic and Christian World. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2012.
• From Rye to Raphael: The Walters Story. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2014-2016.

Provenance Ahmad [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [seal impression with name on fol. 1a]; Unknown owner, 1789 [mode of acquisition unknown] [ownership entry dated 12 Jumadá I 1204 AH/AD 1789 on fol. 1a]; Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters