Introduction to the Shahnama (illuminated text, recto; text, verso), folio from a manuscript of the Shahnama by Firdawsi

This is the left-hand side of an illuminated double page. The text, written in white within the central medallion, begins the introduction to Firdawsi’s Shahnama composed by the Timurid prince Baysunghur Mirza. The page is densely decorated with geometric motifs in blue and gold, layered with intricate floral vines and cloudbands. The design and palette are characteristic of frontispieces produced in the second half of the sixteenth century in Iran and Central Asia.