FIRDAUSI'S SHAHNAMA (BOOK OF KINGS), LUCKNOW, INDIA, COMPLETED JUMADA 1214 (1799 AD)

FIRDAUSI'S SHAHNAMA (BOOK OF KINGS), LUCKNOW, INDIA, COMPLETED JUMADA 1214 (1799 AD) copied by the calligrapher Pandit Bairam, a Persian manuscript, on paper, comprising 638 folios, the text composed in four columns with 25 lines of elegant black nasta'liq, four beautifully illuminated headpieces with intertwining floral scrolls in polychrome on a gold ground, within borders of lobed cartouches, lavishly illustrated with one hundred and thirteen richly coloured miniatures, one with an outline sketch on the following folio, later inscribed in a European hand with the title and details, a rectangular seal above, later European binding, folios 34.5 by 20 cm. Provenance: Offered at Bonhams, 7th October 2014, lot 5. An extensively and elaborately decorated copy of Firdausi’s Shahnama (Book of Kings). This is a rare example of grand artistic patronage in the arts of the books at the Lucknow court in this period. The style of the miniatures resembles those produced in contemporary Delhi with both artistic traditions sharing the same artistic heritage of earlier Mughal courts (as a comparison see Sotheby’s, 23rd October 2023, lot 37, for a copy of the Bahar-I Danish dated 1805). Although little is known of the calligrapher, Pandit Bairam, his name is stated in a colophon in red ink at the end of the manuscript. This also states that the work was produced during the reign of Shah Sa’adat ‘Ali Khan, the second son of Shuja ud-Daula, who succeeded the adopted son of his brother, Asaf ud-Daula, in 1798, with the support of the British. Although less is known of him as a patron of the arts of the book, Sa’adat ‘Ali Khan actively commissioned architecture in Lucknow until his death in 1814.