AN ILLUSTRATED TARIKH-I DELGOSHAY-I SHAMSHIR KHANI, THE ABRIDGED PROSE VERSION OF FIRDOWSI'S SHAHNAMA BY TAVAKOL BEG BIN TULAK BEG HOSSEINI
Possibly Lahore or Kashmir, Northern India, 19th century

Persian manuscript on paper, 178ff., 17ll. of black ink nasta’liq script to the page, the opening folio with an illuminated polychrome headpiece, presenting a slavish copy of the original text including the date 1063 AH (1652 - 1653 AH) and the inscription 'the 26th year of Shah Jahan's reign’, comprising 24 naive illustrations painted in opaque pigments and white wash, the chapter titles and further textual markings in red ink, with catchwords and marginal notes in black, set within blue, red, and gold rules, in a contemporary tooled red calf binding, the text panel 22cm x 10.5cm, the folio 29cm x 17cm.