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Preface (verso) from a double-page frontispiece of a Shahnama of Firdausi (940-1019 or 1025)

c. 1444 · opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.

About this work

This text page is the first page of a Shahnama manuscript with an illuminated heading containing the basmala ("In the name of Allah, etc.") followed by the text of the preface to the Shahnama .

Cleveland Museum of Art’s own description

Credit linePreface (verso) from a double-page frontispiece of a Shahnama of Firdausi (940-1019 or 1025), c. 1444. Iran, Shiraz, Timurid period (1370-1501). Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper; overall: 32.7 x 22 cm (12 7/8 x 8 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1956.10.b

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