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Lot Essay
Between 1330 and 1352, the Injuid dynasty in Shiraz produced four illustrated Shahnama manuscripts that survive today. The colophon of the dispersed manuscript from which this painting comes, now in the Sackler Gallery, Washington DC, names the Mosul scribe Hasan bin Muhammad bin 'Ali and dates it to 1341. It is dedicated to Qiwam al-Din Hasan, vizier to Abu Ishaq, the last of the Injuid dynasty, killed in 1357 by the Muzaffarids. Qiwam al-Din was also a patron of the poet Hafiz, who eulogised him (Glenn D. Lowry, An Annotated and Illustrated Checklist of the Vever Collection, Washington, 1988, pp.69-77).
The treatment of the scene depicted on this painting is unique in recorded Shahnama manuscrips (Jill Norgren and Edward Davis, Preliminary Index of Shah-nameh Illustrations, Michigan, 1969, see Farhad Mehran, "Frequency Distribution of Illustrated Scenes in Persian Manuscripts," Student 2, p. 377; see also Cambridge University's 'Shahnama Project'). Buzurjmihr, vizier of the Sasanian king Anushirvan (r.531-78), was characterised in Persian and Arabic sources by his exceptional wisdom and sage counsel. In the epic, his fortunes rose after interpreting a dream of the king, eventually becoming his councillor, vizier, and even sitting in the place of honour at weekly royal councils (Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh, "Bozorgmehr-e Boktagan," Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online, 1989). Such accounts are the usual subjects of depictions of Buzurjmihr, as in the famous Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, where he masters chess before the Indian Ambassador (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1970.301.71). Eventually he fell from favour, and the king, suspicious of his ambitions and offended by his wisdom, imprisoned and sentenced him to death. Depicted here is the conversation between the executioner and the imprisoned Buzurjmihr, confined in a spiked metal chest as further punishment for claiming his cell was as comfortable as the throne (Shahnameh: The Book of Kings, tr. Dick Davis, New York, 2016, p.858). Anushirvan promised Buzurjmihr the flames of hell if he did not repent; here, probably at the patron’s request, the painter depicts these flames, although the text describes the darkness in which Buzurjmihr lies.
The painting was acquired by the brothers Agop and Merguedditch Indjoudjian at the sale of Octave Homberg's (1876-1941) collection on the March 15, 1933 (for more on this, see lot 27 of this sale). Of the 108 illustrations in the 1341 Injuid Shahnama, 85 are in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (Per 110). Five leaves were sold in these Rooms, 15 October 1996, lots 122-126. One of these was sold again in these Rooms, 23 October 2007, lot 172. A sixth leaf sold in these Rooms, 27 April 2023, lot 27.
The treatment of the scene depicted on this painting is unique in recorded Shahnama manuscrips (Jill Norgren and Edward Davis, Preliminary Index of Shah-nameh Illustrations, Michigan, 1969, see Farhad Mehran, "Frequency Distribution of Illustrated Scenes in Persian Manuscripts," Student 2, p. 377; see also Cambridge University's 'Shahnama Project'). Buzurjmihr, vizier of the Sasanian king Anushirvan (r.531-78), was characterised in Persian and Arabic sources by his exceptional wisdom and sage counsel. In the epic, his fortunes rose after interpreting a dream of the king, eventually becoming his councillor, vizier, and even sitting in the place of honour at weekly royal councils (Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh, "Bozorgmehr-e Boktagan," Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online, 1989). Such accounts are the usual subjects of depictions of Buzurjmihr, as in the famous Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, where he masters chess before the Indian Ambassador (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1970.301.71). Eventually he fell from favour, and the king, suspicious of his ambitions and offended by his wisdom, imprisoned and sentenced him to death. Depicted here is the conversation between the executioner and the imprisoned Buzurjmihr, confined in a spiked metal chest as further punishment for claiming his cell was as comfortable as the throne (Shahnameh: The Book of Kings, tr. Dick Davis, New York, 2016, p.858). Anushirvan promised Buzurjmihr the flames of hell if he did not repent; here, probably at the patron’s request, the painter depicts these flames, although the text describes the darkness in which Buzurjmihr lies.
The painting was acquired by the brothers Agop and Merguedditch Indjoudjian at the sale of Octave Homberg's (1876-1941) collection on the March 15, 1933 (for more on this, see lot 27 of this sale). Of the 108 illustrations in the 1341 Injuid Shahnama, 85 are in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (Per 110). Five leaves were sold in these Rooms, 15 October 1996, lots 122-126. One of these was sold again in these Rooms, 23 October 2007, lot 172. A sixth leaf sold in these Rooms, 27 April 2023, lot 27.