An Example of Shahnameh Prepared for a Ruler (Promotion and Evaluation)

Abstract

Ferdowsi' Shahnameh, which has been the subject of debate for a thousand years since it was written, is one of the most important works of world literature. There are examples of the work, of which we have encountered illustrated examples since the 14th century, that have not yet been discovered and have not reached a wide readership. The Shahnameh copy, which is the subject of our study, was prepared by artists from Samarkand for Ish Mohammad, who reigned in the Khiva region for a short time between 1556 and 1557. The work is preserved in the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan N. 1811, where the original examples of Central Asian painting are kept. The importance of the copy stems from the fact that the work has survived to the present day as a complete text without fragmentation and the name of the miniaturist is mentioned in a few of the existing paintings. This indicates that the work has been preserved in an original way. In the copy, we encounter 115 paintings by another artist and a manuscript illumination bearing period characteristics. The copy contains several paintings by Mohammad Morâd Samarqandî, who represents the original Samarkand painting school, as can be understood from his signature. Some researchers claim that most of the unsigned paintings belong to Mohammad Morâd Samarqandî in terms of style, while the remaining paintings belong to the 17th century. The main purpose of this study is to introduce the work, which is not well known among the copies of Shahnameh, to introduce it to the masses, to evaluate it in terms of style, to give information about the content of the work, to introduce the artist, to explain the formation of the painting program, and thus to contribute to the literature.