Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi
Abu'l Qasim Firdausi
1475–1675
Medium
Leather; tooled and gilded; ink on paper
Dimensions
H. 18 3/8 in. (46.7 cm) W. 12 1/2 in. (31.8 cm)
Classification
Codices
Department
Islamic Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Alexander Smith Cochran, 1913
Accession Number
13.228.14
About the Artist
Abu'l Qasim Firdausi · 935–1020
Abu'l Qasim Firdausi, born around 940 in the village of Paj near Tus in Khorasan (modern-day Iran), emerged from a family of landed gentry known as dehqans, who preserved ancient Iranian oral traditions amid the cultural renaissance of the Samanid Empire. Little is documented about his early life or formal training, though he likely received a basic education including Arabic literacy, immersing h...