Moʿin Moṣavver | Manuscripts | Shahnama of Ferdowsi

Manuscript A2, no. 7-351

Anuširavān Sends Mehrān Setād to the Ḵāqān to Choose a Wife for Him

Location: National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg. PNS 381, folio 365r.
Page: 30.5 x 18.5 cm
Painting: 23.7 x 10.5 cm. (does not include incursions into upper margin)
Text area: 19.7 x 10.6 cm.
Text: four column; 9 lines on a 31 line per full page matrix.
Signature: Not signed

Mehrān Setād and his party -- an elderly man with a long beard and turban, accompanied by three younger companions (four according to the text) -- are on the extreme left of the painting. Shah Anuširavān is seated on a throne to the right; he is handing Mehrān Setād his credentials, and despatching him on a mission to select one of the daughters of the Ḵāqān of Chin as his bride. A sequel to this scene from the same episode was painted by Moʿin some years later (ms.E, 7-351) portrays Mehrān Setād at the court of the Ḵāqān selecting one of his daughters.

Painting references:
Ashrafi, Persian-Tadjik Poetry, page 112, plate 94
Farhad, Mirror_1990, p.127 fn. 10 (iv)
Cambridge Shanameh Project

Text references:
Warner, VII, pp. 349-54; Mohl, VI, pp. 271-73.

Provenence: Gift of Abbas Mirza to Alexander I, who placed it in the Hermitage Library collection. In 1832, the manuscript was transferred to the National Library of Russia by order of Alexander II.

Photo after Ashrafi

Robert Eng
Last Updated: June 4, 2016 | Originally published: June 4, 2016