Introductory medallion (shamsa), from Bal`ami's History (Tarikh-i Bal`ami)
| Müellif | Unknown |
| Materyal türü | Yazma eser |
| Dil | İngilizce |
| Kurum | Chester Beatty |
| Kaynak | Europeana |
| Not | Illuminated medallion (shamsa), from Bal`ami's History (Tarikh-i Bal`ami). This complex radiating design has a matching twin on the opposite page. Seen together, the pair of medallions occupy the book's first page-opening, and introduce a magnificent manuscript produced in Timurid Herat (Afghanistan). Formed of four radially-symmetrical quarters, each circular design features two layers of scrolling plant stems, painted in gold and jade green, against a deep blue ground. The medallion on the right has been salvaged from a slightly earlier manuscript, and has been pasted very subtly onto this page. The medallion on the left is a careful copy, made in 1470, along with the rest of this manuscript. Writing in late tenth-century Bukhara at the Samanid court of Mansur ibn Nuh (r. 961-976), the minister and historian Muhammad al-Bal`ami composed an important new work in Persian, translating and supplementing The History of the Prophets and Kings (Ta'rikh al-Rusul wa'l-Muluk, in Arabic) by the `Abbasid scholar Abu Ja`far Muhammad al-Tabari (d. 923). This illustrated copy of Bal`ami's history was produced in Timurid Herat, in the year 1470. Folio, colours and gold on paper, illuminated medallion (on verso), Herat, Afghanistan, dated Sha`ban 874H, February 1470. This is one of seven folios detached from its codex, which is also in the Chester Beatty Persian collection (Per 144). |
Unknown, Introductory medallion (shamsa), from Bal`ami's History (Tarikh-i Bal`ami), Chester Beatty, https://www.europeana.eu/item/1100/4787?utm_source=api&utm_medium=api&utm_campaign=mmurvess.