The Great Mongol Shahnama
by Professor Robert Hillenbrand
About the Great Mongol Shahnama
The Shahnama or Book of Kings is the Persian national epic. It was completed by the poet Firdausi in about 1010 and runs to some 60,000 verses. Over 500 illustrated manuscripts of this text, produced over the last seven centuries, survive. They include the Great Mongol Shahnama, created in Iran in the 14th century. This Shahnama is incontestably the finest of the surviving manuscripts — for many it is the outstanding masterpiece of the entire Iranian tradition of book illustration.
The new publication, The Great Mongol Shahnama, reunites the paintings of this manuscript, which are scattered in collections across the world. State-of-the-art photography showcases these masterpieces in their full glory, from the vivid colours down to the minute brushstrokes of the medieval artists. The text, written by Professor Robert Hillenbrand, is the culmination of twenty-five years of research and explores the many facets of this mesmerising work of art.
About the author
Professor Robert Hillenbrand is Honorary Fellow at The University of Edinburgh and one of the world’s leading scholars of Islamic art. In 1994, he delivered the Kevorkian lectures in New York and chose as his theme the paintings of the Great Mongol Shahnama. Since then he has worked steadily at refining his account of it, with the current manuscript representing the culmination of twenty-five years of research.
Introducing the manuscript
Preview the book
About HPL
Hali Publications Ltd. (HPL) is a London-based publishing house. Since its inception in 1978, HPL has produced books for museums, publishers and private clients all over the world in the art and design sector. Areas of expertise include textiles of all periods and cultures, contemporary craft and design, and Asian art. Publications combine academic integrity with beautiful design.
About the Freer and Sackler
The Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, are dedicated to increasing understanding of the arts of Asia and Gilded Age America through exhibitions, publications, conservation, research, and education. Located in Washington, DC, the Freer and Sackler house exceptional collections of Asian and American art, with more than 44,000 objects dating from the Neolithic period to the present day.
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Co-published by Hali Publications Ltd. and the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, and supported by Qatar Museums.