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The Great Mongol Shahnama

Title: The Great Mongol Shahnama
Author List: Robert Hillenbrand
Publisher: Hali Publications Ltd; National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution
Publication Date: January 31, 2023
Publication Type: book
Format: print (hardcover)
Pages: 504
Illustrations: 165
ISBN: 9781898113836
Collection Area(s): Arts of the Islamic World
A book cover with a gold background. On the left, a bearded king sits on a throne overlooking two subjects to the right. The king wears an ornate blue and gold robe with a gold crown atop his head surrounded by a circular halo. At the foot of his thrown is a pile of bags filled with gifts. One of the subjects crouches and looks up at the king in adoration, hands raised. The other man stands on the right of the cover, smiling at the king and holding two more bags of gifts. In the top right corner, the title “The Great Mongol Shahnama” appears in red text.
Description:

The Great Mongol Shahnama is widely considered to be the definitive version of Firdausi’s epic poem, and the greatest of all Persian illustrated manuscripts. The paintings from this manuscript are held in private collections and institutions around the world, and have only been seen together in a single volume once since they were originally dispersed. This monograph reunites the paintings and reproduces them as 67 full-page, high quality color plates, alongside an analysis by leading scholar of Islamic art, Robert Hillenbrand. With newly commissioned photographs and insights into technical aspects of the paintings, The Great Mongol Shahnama is a comprehensive resource for those interested in Persian art and manuscripts.

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Related Exhibition

  • A detail of a painting of a red-robed king, sitting atop a white horse, who is conversing with a small face emerging from a tree; the king's companions, also riding horses, look on behind him at the edge of the image.

    An Epic of Kings: The Great Mongol Shahnama

    August 31, 2024–January 5, 2025

    The Great Mongol Shahnama is the most celebrated of all medieval Persian manuscripts. An Epic of Kings offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see twenty-five folios from this now dismantled manuscript presented alongside contemporaneous works from China, the Mediterranean, and the Latin West.

    View Exhibition

  • 1050 Independence Ave. SW
    Washington, DC 20013
    202.633.1000

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