Shāhnāmah (MS Add.269) Shāhnāmah (MS Add.269)

A richly illuminated and almost complete copy of the Shahnamah, the great Persian epic poem, probably copied in the 16th/17th Century C.E. The drop-shaped seal on the first page appears to be that of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, Sultan of Golkunda in Hyderabad, India (1565-1612). The manuscript is richly decorated with gold and polychrome illumination. It is bound in multi-coloured leather with gilded medallions and ornamentations on the front and back cover and on the flap. In the nineteenth century, the manuscript was part of the collection of the East India Company.

This frontispiece to a richly illuminated and almost complete copy of the Shahnamah, the great Persian epic poem, depicts Sulayman enthroned. The manuscript, probably copied in the 16th/17th century CE, was owned by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, Sultan of Golkunda in Hyderabad, India (1565-1612).