Epic Images and Contemporary History: The Illustrations of the Great Mongol Shahnama

by Oleg Grabar

A major art historical examination of the practice and techniques of Mongol painting, based on a reconstruction of the scattered leaves of the Mongol copy of the Persian epic, the Shahnameh.

232 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1980

About the author

أوليغ غرابار (Oleg Grabar) (من مواليد 3 نوفمبر 1929 في ستراسبورغ فرنسا، مؤرخ وعالم آثار، تخصص في مجال الفنون والعمارة الإسلامية. حصل على الدكتوراه من جامعة برنستون عام 1955. كان عضو في هيئة التدريس في جامعة ميتشيغان، في 1954-69، قبل أن يحصل على تعيين أستاذ في جامعة هارفارد. في عام 1980 أصبح أستاذ عمارة وفن إسلامي في جامعة هارفارد، وبقي حتى عام 1990 عندما انضم إلى معهد الدراسات العليا. أستاذ فخري منذ عام 1998.

Oleg Grabar (November 3, 1929 – January 8, 2011) was a French-born art historian and archeologist, who spent most of his career in the United States, as a leading figure in the field of Islamic art and architecture.

Reviews

[Suhaila · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Shahnama, the great epic poem of Iran, contains the mythic tales of ancient Persia’s kings and heroes. Through the ages, the epic has been illustrated by every Persian dynasty worth its salt. Even the Monguls. Far more than just barbarian invaders from China, Genghis Khan and the Mongul horde made great contributions to courtly Islamic history through their descendants, the Ilkhanid and Moghul dynasties. In this book, Oleg Grabar explains how the illustrations of the Great Mongol Shahnama hint at the contemporary history of the court, with many famous illustrations of the ancient Persian tales recast with the portraits of Mongol kings and queens reenacting the same tableauxs from their own contemporary history. The book is so good it is worth its price alone for the many dishy tales of courtly intrigue it contains involving the ambitious Mongol queens.