An exhibition of works from UK collections dedicated to the Shahnameh: manuscripts and single detached folios, ceramics, metalwork and textiles.
ome 120 works will be displayed in the Mellon Gallery of the Fitzwilliam Museum. Images of battles, rescues and dragons will record history with romance, wit, and much more. Britain is fortunate to hold most of the richest Shahnameh material in the world. There are 15 manuscripts in Cambridge alone. The exhibits will however be supplemented from other UK and European lenders; from the holdings of public or semi-public collections such as the British Library to the rarely seen materials from private collections such as that of Her Majesty the Queen. Taken together, these will provide examples of the rich range of styles in the art of Persian book painting, together with number of related artefacts.
The arrangement will be broadly chronological: the Mongol period, with the bright buoyancy of early 14th-century leaves and the solemn majesty that follows them in the 1340s; the Timurid 15th century in which a school of spare, fighting vigour runs in parallel with another of exquisite palette and fine observation, but its own share of drama; the opulent sophistication of the Safavid centuries, with several manuscripts in pristine conditions and their pictures accompanied by rich decorative illuminations; and the sensuous naturalism of Mughal painting.
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