Shah Tahmasp's Shahnameh Manuscript

Timeline

1. c. 1522–1535Tabriz · TabrizIsmail I launched this deluxe Shahnameh at the Tabriz royal atelier around 1522 as a cultural project for Crown Prince Tahmasp. After the shah's death in 1524 work continued, with Sultan Muhammad, Mir Musavvir, and Aqa Mirak successively directing, mobilizing two generations of court painters under the Timurid-Turkmen tradition, making the manuscript's illustrations far outnumber those of ordinary contemporary copies.
2. 1530–1567Safavid court · IranThe manuscript was largely completed under Tahmasp I, becoming a visual manifesto combining Safavid sovereignty with the Iranian epic tradition. Pages such as 'The Court of Kayumars' were later regarded as the pinnacle of Persian painting. In his later years Tahmasp's interest in painting waned, and the manuscript became a candidate for diplomatic gifts rather than a treasury treasure.
3. c. 1568Topkapi Palace, Istanbul · IstanbulAround 1568 the manuscript entered the Ottoman court with a Safavid embassy and was long kept in Topkapi Palace. After leaving in the early twentieth century it was acquired by Arthur Houghton around 1959; in the 1970s it was dismembered, with 78 illustrated leaves donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the rest divided among the National Museum of Iran and various Western institutions. The dispersal itself became a classic case in Islamic manuscript studies and cultural heritage disputes.