Folio from a Shahnama (Book of kings) by Firdawsi (died 1020); recto: text and illustration: Rustam rescues Bijan from the well; verso: text

Object Details

• Description

  Detached folio from a dispersed copy of the Shahnama (Book of kings) by Firdawsi; text: Persian in black and red naskh script; illustration and text: Rustam rescues Bijan from the well, 6 columns, 21 lines; reverse: text, 6 columns, 30 lines; one of a group of 7 folios.

  Border: The text and the painting have been remargined and mounted on to another paper.

• Previous custodian or owner

  Dikran Garabed Kelekian (1868-1951)

• Provenance

  To 1945

  Dikran G. Kelekian (1868-1951), Cairo, Egypt, Paris, France, and New York to 1945 [1]

  From 1945

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Dikran G. Kelekian, New York, in 1945 [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See Freer Gallery or Art Purchase List after 1920, Collections Management Office.

  [2] See note 1.

• Origin

  Shiraz, Iran

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Manuscript

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1300s

• Name

  Kelekian, Dikran Garabed

• Place

  Shiraz

• Topic

  Art, Bijan, Rustam, Inju dynasty (1335 - 1357), Arts of the Islamic World, Mongol period (1220 - 1380), Shahnama

• Culture

  Muslims, Iranians, Afrasiyabs

• Object Type

  Manuscripts