Illustrated leaf from a manuscript of Firdausi's Shahnama: Zal and Rustam converse with the Simurgh, text copied by Muhyi, Qazwin or Mashhad, Persia, Manuscript dated A.H. 973/A.D. 1565

gouache with gold on paper, text above in four columns of neat nasta`liq script in black ink on paper, heading in gold in ruled panel, reverse with full page of text in four columns, margins ruled in colours and gold, remargined at outer edge

This and the following lot come from a manuscript whose colophon states the name of the scribe as Muhyi and the date as 973/1565. The move of the Safavid capital from Tabriz to Qazwin between 1544 and 1556 saw the artists of the region working to an imperial standard, however the later years of Shah Tahmasp's reign saw a decline in the atelier as his eyesight failed him and his religious fanaticism turned him from the arts.  As a result, many of his artists transferred to his nephew Bahram Mirza's atelier in Mashhad, where work continued to be produced in the Qazwin style. In 1565 the year that this manuscript was completed, Bahram Mirza returned to Mashhad after a prolonged banishment and once again took up the reins of government.

Other miniatures from this manuscript have been sold in these rooms 13 April 2000, lot 34; 14 October 1999, lot 44; 28 April 2004, lot 37; and 5 April 2006, lots 43,44.