A leaf from an illustrated manuscript, depicting an enthroned ruler with courtiers, Persia, 16th Century

gouache and gold on paper, four lines of text written in nasta'liq script in two columns, inner margins ruled in colours and gold, outer margins with stylised clouds and foliage in gold, verso eighteen lines of text written in two columns
leaf 229 x 143 mm.

Provenance
Dr Thomas Ewart Marston (1905-1984), curator of Mediaeval and Renaissance Literature art at Yale University Library.
Minna Marston, his wife, and thence by descent.

Dr. Marston was elected trustee of the Yale University Library Association in 1933 and was the curator of Mediaeval and Renaissance literature at the library until his retirement in 1972. He had a BA from Yale and and MA and PhD from Harvard University. He was the author of Britain's Imperial Role in the Red Sea Area: 1800-1878 and co-author of The Vineland Map and the Tartar Relation.

The text has not been identified, but appears to be from the same manuscript as lots 4 and 6. The passages may come from interpolated, unpublished sections of the Shahnama.

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