Double Page Finispiece/Frontispiece: Standing Man and Standing Woman

Location: Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London, ms.1000.1 and 1000.2;
formerly in the Rothschild Collection.
Page: not known
Painting: 23.5 x 11.5 cm.
Text area: not applicable
Signature: faintly in the center of the lower margin: raqam-e kamina moʿin-e moṣavver.

Removed from the manuscript, these folios appear at the end of the reign of Kay Ḵosrow and separate that chapter from the beginning of the chapter on the reign of Lohrāsp. As mentioned in my article, this is a common break point in Shahnama manuscripts. The recto side of the folio with the painting of the man contains one of the colophons of the manuscript, with the date the 2nd of Ẕuʾl-Qaʿda 1058 / December 18,1648, while the verso side of the painting of the woman consists of one of the signed ʿonvāns in the manuscript, marking the beginning of the reign of Lohrāsp. Further discussion of these images appears on pages 60-61.

Painting references:
Robinson, Colnaghi_1976, p.78, no.55i and 55ii (ill. in color).
Canby_ Journal_2010, p.71-72 nos.26 and 27, and fig.12

Photo ©after Colnaghi catalog

Sheila R. Canby
Last Updated: October 6, 2014 | Originally published Canby: 2010