Intercultural Shahnameh: A study of the illustrated version of the Great Ilkhanid Shahnameh

The Great Ilkhanid Shahnameh is one of the masterpieces of the Mongol era in Tabriz school.  This illustrated manuscript well expresses the visual narration of the Ilkhanid kings and artistic relations of that time.  This study examines these illustrations from the perspective of visual features to show how Iraninan and Far Eastern art were intertwined in this work.  This connection is quite evident in the display of chinese mongolian portraits and the manner of illustrating nature (tree, mountain, cloud).  Moreover other illustrated features in this version such as the symbolic Farr of kings, picturing the battle scenes and mourning rituals are also examined.  In some cases the paintings are compared with their counterparts in Jamee al Tavarikh both belong to the same era using the same style.  The results show that the artistic style of many cultures are intermingled in the illustrations of the Great Ilkhanid Shahnameh.  On one hand  the influence of the Chinese painting in depicting portraits and scenary is evident and on the other hand Mongolian culture dominates the paintings.  Moreover the theme of the illustrations is rooted in the paintings of the ancient Iran.  One can even find traces of influence of  the fartetched art such as Byzantine art in this work.  Therefore this version of Shahnameh can be regarded as an intercultural Shahnameh which blends many cultural traditions such as Mongolian, Chinese, old Persian, and Byzantine into one unified copy.