Zahhak Receives the Daughters of Jamshid

Location: Tabriz, Iran

Materials: ink, gold and opaque watercolour on paper; margins heavily sprinkled with gold

Dimensions: 47 x 31.8cm (folio); 27.3 x 17.1cm (written surface, recto); 32.7 x 21.6cm (maximum; illustration, verso)

Accession Number: MSS 1030, folio 27

Other Notes:

Shahrnaz and Arnavaz, the two virtuous young daughters of the slain Iranian king Jamshid, are brought before Zahhak, trembling like a willow leaf.

 [For the Shahnamah of Shah Tahmasp, see MSS 1030]

Script:

text copied in a superior nasta‘liq script, with 22 lines to the page, arranged in 4 columns, two to a couplet; headings (on the recto) in riqa‘

Bibliography:

J.M. Rogers, The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the Khalili Collection, London 2010, cat.300, pp.262–3.