شاهنامه. Shāhnāmah, 1849 C.E.; 1265 A.H.

Manuscript codex. Title from colophon (f. 688r). Owner's inscription dated 1327 (1909) written onto f. 1r.

Paper support

Bound in red leather over pasteboard (Type III) with blind stamped central mandorla, two pendants on the vertical axis, cornerpieces, and 6 cartouches around the edge forming a frame; red leather pastedown and red square-and-star pattern endpapers.

I, 690 foliated leaves : 375 x 210 (270 x 142) mm bound to 390 x 225 mm

Chiefly 25 lines in 4 columns; prose prefaces in 21 long lines; border-ruled.

Written in nastaʻlīq in black ink; pointed.

Dual-page illuminated first-opening in gold and blue with text on suggestion of cloudbands (f. 1v-2r); illuminated headpieces in gold or gold and blue before each section (f. 15r, 21v, 227v, 406v, 566v); 32 illustrations, some incomplete (f. 24v, 46r, 47v, 50v, 55v, 151v, 154v, 224v-225r, 361r, 364v, 365v, 372v, 380v, 383v, 433v, 436r, 438v-439r, 446v, 448r, 453v, 462r, 469v, 488r, 494r, 497v, 502r, 513r, 526v, 602v, 628v). Textblock border ruled in gold and blue with page-opening framed in black rule. Rubrications in red.

Contemporary foliation in Arabic-Hindu numerals in red and black ink, top, left recto, begins after the prefaces; catchwords each verso, lower left. Continuous modern foliation added in pencil, upper left recto; references in the record are to the modern foliation.