February 21, 2021

سند ابداع تخته نرد در شاهنامه ها

Explains the Game of Backgammon (Nard) to the Raja of Hind", Folio from the First Small Shahnama (Book of Kings)ca. 1300–30

Abu'l Qasim Firdausi

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 455

Front (picture)

Front (picture)

Object Details

Title: "Buzurjmihr Explains the Game of Backgammon (Nard) to the Raja of Hind", Folio from the First Small Shahnama (Book of Kings)

Author: Abu'l Qasim Firdausi (Iranian, Paj ca. 940/41–1020 Tus)

Date: ca. 1300–30

Geography: Made in Iran or Iraq

Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

Dimensions: Text block: 6 1/8 x 4 15/16 in. (15.6 x 12.5 cm)
Painting: 2 3/16 x 4 13/16 in. (5.6 x 12.3 cm)

Classification: Codices

Credit Line: Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1934

Accession Number:34.24.2

Catalogue Entry

Folio from a Shahnama

This page from the Shahnameh, copied during the Ilkhanid period, shows the wise Persian courtier Buzurgmihr demonstrating backgammon—his intellectual riposte to chess—to the Indian ruler. The foreign delegation, placed at the right-hand side of the action, is clearly designated ad Middle Eastern by the men's tunic, turbans and full beards, while the Raja of Hind and his courtiers are shown as Indian by their dark skin, bright baggy clothes and loose turbans. Here, the Raja leans forward as Buzurgmihr waves his hand across the board, either inviting a game or explainng the rules; one elderly courtier shows his surprise by placing a finger to his lips.[60] The depiction of this story and the preceding tale of Buzurgmihr's explanation of chess, in one of the earliest illustrated examples of the Shahnameh, demonstrate a commitment by the Mongol rulers of Iran to the culture of the lands which they ruled.[61]

WIlliam Greenwood in [greenwood 2014]

Footnotes:

60. Daryaee, T. (2002) Mind, body and the cosmos: Chess and backgammon in ancient Persia. Iranian Studies, vol. 35, no. 4 (Autumn), pp. 294–95.

61. See Hillenbrand, R. (2002). The arts of the book in Ilkhanid Iran. In L. Komaroff and S. Carboni, eds. The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256–1353. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp. 150–55


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