Editing Shahnameh (section)

== Illustrated copies ==
[[File:GushtasbChowgan.jpg|thumb|[[Vishtaspa|Gushtasp]] Displays His Prowess at [[Polo]] before the Qaisar of Rum, Folio from the [[Peck Shahnama]]. Shiraz, 1589–1590. [[Princeton University Library]]]]

Illustrated copies of the work are among the most sumptuous examples of [[Persian miniature painting]]. Several copies remain intact, although two of the most famous, the [[Houghton Shahnameh|Houghton ''Shahnameh'']] and the [[Great Mongol Shahnameh|Great Mongol ''Shahnameh'']], were broken up for sheets to be sold separately in the 20th century. A single sheet from the former was sold for £904,000 in 2006.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ten Most Expensive Books of 2006|url=http://www.finebooksmagazine.com/issue/0502/expensive-1.phtml|work=Fine Books & Collections|access-date=2007-08-31|archive-date=2020-08-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803125544/https://www2.finebooksmagazine.com/issue/0502/expensive-1.phtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Baysonghori Shahnameh|Baysonghori ''Shahnameh'']], an [[illuminated manuscript]] of the work made in 1430 for [[Baysunghur|Prince Baysunghur]], is preserved intact at [[Golestan Palace]] in Iran. In 2007 it was inscribed in [[UNESCO]]'s [[Memory of the World Programme|Memory of the World International Register]] which lists documentary heritage of global importance.<ref>{{cite web|title="Bayasanghori Shâhnâmeh" (Prince Bayasanghor's Book of the Kings)|url=https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/bayasanghori-shahnameh-prince-bayasanghors-book-kings |work=UNESCO|access-date=27 February 2025}}</ref>

The Mongol rulers in Iran revived and spurred the patronage of the ''Shahnameh'' in its manuscript form.<ref>{{cite news |last=Lawrence |first=Lee |date=December 6, 2013 <!-- 7: 46 p.m. ET --> |title=Politics and the Persian Language |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303670804579236074032552930 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117032005/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303670804579236074032552930 |archive-date=November 17, 2015 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal }} [http://www.hacusa.org/userfiles/file/inthepress/2013/Dec/Lawrence_Politics_WSJ_120813.doc Alt URL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117015742/http://www.hacusa.org/userfiles/file/inthepress/2013/Dec/Lawrence_Politics_WSJ_120813.doc |date=2015-11-17 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sah-nama-iv-illustrations |title=ŠĀH-NĀMA iv. Illustrations |last1=Simpson |first1=Marianna Shreve |date=April 21, 2009 |website=iranicaonline.org |publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica |access-date=October 14, 2011 |archive-date=May 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517162629/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/sah-nama-iv-illustrations |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Eduljee|first1=K. E.|title=Ferdowsi Shahnameh Manuscripts|url=http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/shahnameh/manuscripts.htm|website=www.heritageinstitute.com|access-date=22 August 2016|archive-date=3 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603054956/http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/shahnameh/manuscripts.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Burgan2009">{{cite book|author=Michael Burgan|title=Empire of the Mongols|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=du9IBqrbMcYC&q=ilkhanate+shahnama&pg=PA129|year=2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-60413-163-5|pages=129–|access-date=2020-10-10|archive-date=2022-09-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220909184325/https://books.google.com/books?id=du9IBqrbMcYC&q=ilkhanate+shahnama&pg=PA129|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="FootRobinson2012">{{cite book|author1=Sarah Foot|author2=Chase F. Robinson|title=The Oxford History of Historical Writing: Volume 2: 400-1400|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8kJoAgAAQBAJ&q=ilkhanate+shahnama&pg=PA271|date=25 October 2012|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-163693-6|pages=271–|access-date=10 October 2020|archive-date=26 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220426022800/https://books.google.com/books?id=8kJoAgAAQBAJ&q=ilkhanate+shahnama&pg=PA271|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/khan2/hd_khan2.htm|title=The Art of the Book in the Ilkhanid Period – Essay – Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History – The Metropolitan Museum of Art|first=Authors: Stefano Carboni, Qamar|last=Adamjee|website=The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History|access-date=2015-11-11|archive-date=2021-05-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512053506/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/khan2/hd_khan2.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ilkh/hd_ilkh.htm|title=The Art of the Ilkhanid Period (1256–1353) – Essay – Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History – The Metropolitan Museum of Art|first=Authors: Suzan Yalman, Linda|last=Komaroff|website=The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History|access-date=2015-11-11|archive-date=2023-06-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230611201324/https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ilkh/hd_ilkh.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="LukoninIvanov2012">{{cite book|author1=Vladimir Lukonin|author2=Anatoly Ivanov|title=Persian Art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HTXxYNvCqfcC&q=ilkhanate+shahnama&pg=PA65|date=30 June 2012|publisher=Parkstone International|isbn=978-1-78042-893-2|pages=65–|access-date=10 October 2020|archive-date=21 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220421154500/https://books.google.com/books?id=HTXxYNvCqfcC&q=ilkhanate+shahnama&pg=PA65|url-status=live}}</ref> The "Great Mongol" or [[Demotte Shahnameh|Demotte ''Shahnameh'']], produced during the reign of the [[Ilkhanid]] sultan [[Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan|Abu Sa'id]], is one of the most illustrative and important copies of the ''Shahnameh''.<ref>Blair, Sheila S. "Rewriting the History of the Great Mongol Shahnama". In ''Shahnama: The Visual Language of the Persian Book of Kings'', ed. Robert Hillenbrand. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2004. p. 35. {{ISBN|0754633675}}.</ref>

The [[Timurids]] continued the tradition of manuscript production. For them, it was considered proper for the members of the family to have personal copies of the epic poem.<ref name="Iranica2">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Simpson|first=Marianna Shreve Simpson|title=Šāh-nāma iv. Illustrations|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sah-nama-iv-illustrations|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|date=7 May 2012|access-date=14 October 2011|archive-date=17 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517162629/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/sah-nama-iv-illustrations|url-status=live}}</ref> Consequently, three of [[Timur]]'s grandsons—[[Baysunghur]], [[Ibrahim Sultan (Timurid)|Ibrahim Sultan]], and [[Muhammad Juki|Moḥammad Juki]]—each commissioned such a volume.<ref name="Iranica2" /> Among these, the [[Baysunghur Shahnameh|Baysunghur ''Shahnameh'']] is one of the most voluminous and artistic ''Shahnameh'' manuscripts.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Motlagh|first=Khaleghi|title=Bāysonḡorī Šāh-nāma|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baysongori-sah-nama|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|author2=T. Lentz|date=15 December 1989|access-date=18 May 2012|archive-date=23 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123042253/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/baysongori-sah-nama|url-status=live}}</ref>

The production of illustrated ''Shahnameh'' manuscripts in the 15th century remained vigorous<ref name="Iranica2" /> under the [[Qara Qoyunlu]] (1380–1468) and [[Aq Qoyunlu]] (1378–1508) Turkman dynasties.<ref name="Iranica2" /> Many of the extant illustrated copies, with more than seventy or more paintings, are attributable to [[Tabriz]], [[Shiraz]], and [[Baghdad]] beginning in about the 1450s–60s and continuing to the end of the century.<ref name="Iranica2" />

A resurgence of ''Shahnameh'' manuscript production occurred in the [[Safavid]] era.<ref name="Iranica2" /> Shah [[Ismail I]] used the epic for propaganda purposes: as a gesture of Persian patriotism, as a celebration of renewed Persian rule, and as a reassertion of Persian royal authority.<ref name="Iranica2" /> The Safavids commissioned elaborate copies of the ''Shahnameh'' to support their legitimacy.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Oxford History of Islam|year=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=0-19-510799-3|editor=John L. Esposito|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofi00john/page/364 364]|quote=To support their legitimacy, the Safavid dynasty of Iran (1501–1732) devoted a cultural policy to establish their regime as the reconstruction of the historic Iranian monarchy. To the end, they commissioned elaborate copies of the ''Shahnameh'', the Iranian national epic, such as this one made for Tahmasp in the 1520s.|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofi00john/page/364}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Lapidus|first=Ira Marvin|title=A History of Islamic Societies|year=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=0-521-77933-2|edition=2nd|page=445|quote=To bolster the prestige of the state, the Safavid dynasty sponsored an Iran-Islamic style of culture concentrating on court poetry, painting, and monumental architecture that symbolized not only the Islamic credentials of the state but also the glory of the ancient Persian traditions.}}</ref> Among the high points of ''Shahnameh'' illustrations was the series of 250 miniatures commissioned by Shah Ismail for his son's [[Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp|''Shahnameh'' of Shah Tahmasp]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Ahmed|first=Akbar S.|title=Discovering Islam: Making Sense of Muslim History and Society|year=2002|publisher=Psychology Press|location=London|isbn=0-415-28525-9|edition=2nd|page=70|quote=Perhaps the high point was the series of 250 miniatures which illustrated the Shah Nama commissioned by Shah Ismail for his son Tahmasp.}}</ref> Two similar cycles of illustration of the mid-17th century, the [[Shahnameh of Rashida|''Shahnameh'' of Rashida]] and the [[Windsor Shahnameh|Windsor ''Shahnameh'']], come from the last great period of the Persian miniature.

In honour of the ''Shahnameh''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s millennial anniversary, in 2010 the [[Fitzwilliam Museum]] in Cambridge hosted a major exhibition, called "Epic of the Persian Kings: The Art of Ferdowsi's ''Shahnameh''", which ran from September 2010 to January 2011.<ref>{{cite web|title=Exhibition: Epic of the Persian Kings: The Art of Ferdowsi's ''Shahnameh''|url=http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/whatson/exhibitions/shahnameh/|work=The Fitzwilliam Museum|access-date=29 May 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120411014418/http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/whatson/exhibitions/shahnameh/|archive-date=11 April 2012}}</ref> The [[Arthur M. Sackler Gallery]] of the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in Washington, DC also hosted an exhibition of folios from the 14th through the 16th centuries, called "Shahnama: 1000 Years of the Persian Book of Kings", from October 2010 to April 2011.<ref>{{cite web|title=Shahnama: 1000 Years of the Persian Book of Kings|url=http://www.asia.si.edu/explore/shahnama/|work=Freer and Sackler Galleries|access-date=29 May 2012|archive-date=25 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120625112453/http://www.asia.si.edu/explore/shahnama/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2013 [[Hamid Rahmanian]] illustrated a new English translation of the ''Shahnameh'' (translated by [[Ahmad Sadri]]) creating new imagery from old manuscripts.<ref>{{cite news |last=Fassihi |first=Farnaz |date=May 23, 2013 |title=Shahnameh, a Persian Masterpiece, Still Relevant Today |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/middleeast/2013/05/23/shahnameh-a-persian-masterpiece-still-relevant-today/ |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |location=IRAN |access-date=August 4, 2017 |archive-date=March 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180325050258/https://blogs.wsj.com/middleeast/2013/05/23/shahnameh-a-persian-masterpiece-still-relevant-today/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Shahnameh-The-Epic-of-the-Persian-Kings-by-Ferdowsi-Hardcover-Book-English-/391005164970|title=Shahnameh : The Epic of the Persian Kings by Sheila Canby, Ahmad Sadri and Abolqasem Ferdowsi (2013, Hardcover) – eBay|website=www.ebay.com}}</ref>