Demotte Shahnameh

File:Demotte Shahname 003.jpg

Demotte Shahnameh is an illustrated manuscript of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Greater Iran. It is the oldest survived illustrated manuscript of the Shahnameh. According to the Encyclopædia Iranica, "It is generally believed to have been produced for a patron associated with the Il-khanid court and is renowned for the quality of its paintings".

Although the surviving portions of this Šāh-nāma manuscript carry no direct information about its original owner or the circumstances surrounding its manufacture, since its first appearance in Paris it has been associated with 14th-century Persia. Various opinions have been expressed about its illustrations, which reflect tensions between the Il-khanid dynasty and Persian subjects; it was probably commissioned by Rašīd-al-Dīn’s son Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn Moḥammad in about 1335[.]

Most scholars believe that this manuscript dates from mid-eighth century AH. It was once kept in Golestan Palace but it first appeared in Europe with Georges Demotte, an art dealer from Paris active from 1900-23.

The manuscript is thought to have belonged to the Qajar royal library, for it was photographed while still bound ... by Antoin Sevrugin, court photographer to the rulers Nāṣer-al-Dīn Shah (1264-1313/1848-96) and Moẓaffar-al-Dīn Shah (1313-24/1896-1907 ...). Moḥammad-ʿAlī Shah (1324-27/1907-09) and members of his household are said to have been selling manuscripts from the dynastic collection as early as 1908, in order to meet personal expenses. Demotte is said to have acquired the manuscript in Paris in about 1910; he bought it from Shemavan Malayan, brother-in-law of the well-known dealer Hagop Kevorkian, who had brought it from Tehran.

Demotte presented this manuscript to Metropolitan Museum of Art, but the museum didn't accept it. He then separated the miniatures and sold them and lost the other parts. Currently, 77 miniatures from this manuscript have been identified in museums around the world.