Iran’s greatest literary masterpiece, considered the finest illustrated texts ever in the Islamic world, the “Shahnama” (Book of Kings) has just gone on view at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. 

“The Shahnama: 1000 Years of the Persian Book of Kings”, is "probably one of the finest shows we’ve ever put together,” Massumeh Farhad, the Sackler and Freer Galleries’ chief curator, curator of Islamic art, and organizer of the exhibition told a press preview before the exhibit opened on October 23. 

The “Shahnama” is “the great Persian epic, comparable on its cultural significance and popularity to the works of Homer and Shakespeare...,” Farhad explained. 

“It’s the most popular text in Iran and the Islamic world. Every Iranian household has two books – the “’Shahnama’ and the Koran,” she added, “and the most frequently illustrated text in the Islamic world, bar none.” 

The glorious exhibit has 33 sumptuous, intricate paintings and objects from the 14th to 16th centuries. These include rare folios from two of the most important, celebrated copies of the “Shahnama” still in existence. 

Completed in 1010 after 30 years of writing by the great poet Firdawsi, the “Shahnama” recounts myths and quasi-history of Iran from the beginning of time to the Arab conquest of Iran in 651. 

Its 50,000 verses are centered on the reign of 50 monarchs, including three women. The characters depicted range from heroes to villains, demons, fantastical supernatural creatures like the winged horse Rakhsh, and Alexander the Great, or Iskandar, who invaded Iran in 330 BC, and destroyed the palace of Persepolis.   

Farhad surprisingly compared some of the characters and epic themes to “Batman”, the phoenix “right out of Harry Potter”, and “Star Wars”.

The “Shahnama” characters and actions are painted opulently in opaque watercolors, gold, and silver. “It’s hard to believe anyone could paint so finely, even if they had magnifying glasses back then,” Farhad noted.

A few of the many highlights:

• “The Court of Jamshid”, 1520s, the “apogee of refinement of painting in the 16th century – every part of the painting is a tour de force,” Farhad commented.

          Jamshid was the mythical Persian king who created Iran’s first golden age by introducing the arts, crafts, governance, science, and even perfumes during his 300-year reign. When Jamshid became “Ungrateful, proud, forgetful of God’s name,” as Firdawsi wrote, the king was overthrown, and evil entered Persia for the first time.

          Here Jamshid presides over his bustling court, with craftsmen weaving silk, sawing wood, and forging iron. The richly detailed gem-like surfaces and superb draftsmanship especially in the faces and burgeoning vegetation are mesmerizing.

• “Zal is Sighted by a Caravan”, circa 1525, and “Sam Returns With His Son Zal”, 1520s.

          Sam is ashamed of his albino baby Zal, whom Firdawsi described as born with a “face like paradise” but hair of “an old man”. So Sam abandons his son Zal in a forest. Eventually, the baby is seen and rescued by a passing caravan.

• “The Bier of Iskandar (Alexander the Great)”, circa 1330-1340

          Firdawsi wrote, “There is nothing in the world so terrible and fearful as the fact that one comes like the wind and departs as a breath...But one must act well, with valor and chivalry, and one must eat well and rejoice: I see no other fate for you.”

Speaking of fate and Firdawsi, for his 30-year masterpiece, a king paid him “only a pittance,” Farhad said. “Firdawsi took that to a bathhouse and spent it on beer for himself and the bath attendant.”

“But ten years later, the king realized that he mistreated Firdawsi, and sent a 1,000-camel caravan with gold, rubies, and other treasures to Firdawsi’s village. But when the caravan arrived, they saw his funeral procession.”

For more info: “The Shahnama: 1000 Years of the Persian Book of Kings”, www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/shahnama.asp  on view through April 17, 2011. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, www.asia.si.edu, 1050 Independence Avenue, SW, on the National Mall, Washington, DC, 202-633-1000. December 4 free public program, www.asia.si.edu/events/lectures.asp, scholar and professor of Persian literature Dick Davis, whose translation of the epic is published by Viking Penguin, will speak on the role of women in the“Shahnama”, and Azar Nafisi, author of the best-selling “Reading Lolita in Tehran”, will discuss the 1,000-year, lasting significance of Iran’s national epic.