An illustrated folio from a copy of Firdawsi’s Shahnama.', possibly Shiraz, Iran, 1300-1340, gouache heightened with gold on paper, within text page, 24ll. of black naskh within six red ruled columns to the page above and below the painting, the reverse with 34ll. of text, slight smudging of miniature, painting 9.8 by 24cm; folio 35.2 x 26.4cm.The manuscripts that were made in the Mongol or Il-Khanid period have both features from ‘Arab painting’ and elements from Far Eastern art. This painting is quite Arab in expression, while scenes with warriors and landscapes display Chinese inspiration to a higher degree.The first extant copies of Firdawsi’s famous 11th-century Persian epic, the Book of Kings, were written under the Il-Khanids. This miniature comes from one of the “small Shahnamas” that are considered by some to be precursors of the period’s more mature masterpiece, the great ‘Mongolian Shahnama.’The majority of leaves from which this manuscript comes are in the Freer gallery, Washington while others are in the Art and History Trust Collection (Soudavar, A.: Art of the Persian Courts, New York, 1992, nos. 10a-c).See also Simpson, M.S.: The Illustration of an Epic, New York, 1979.Overall fair condition, the edges of the folio are slightly scuffed with minor tears and folds, small losses to paper at corners and at right edge. lower left corner and lower edge with repairs, light staining to paper overall, some darker areas of discolouration, minor smudging to ink but text is clear and legible, faint creases, the image with some rubbing to details and minor loss to pigments, the reverse with later identification inscription and museum inventory number in pencil in the lower margin, as viewed.