Reign of Kay Kavus (recto, verso), illuminated folio from a manuscript of the Shahnama of Firdawsi

The recto and verso side of this folio features tan paper containing four columns of Persian text written in black ink and in nasta’liq script. The recto side has two text headings in blue ground spanning the middle two columns. They both contain Persian text written in gold and in thuluth script. The tan paper is bordered by red paper decorated with gold flowers. Both are pasted onto a larger blue page elaborately decorated with gold flowers, foliage, and real and fictitious beasts, such as: birds, deer, antelope, tigers, dragons, and lions. The page was part of a Shahnama (Book of Kings) by the tenth century Persian poet, Firdawsi (935-1020). The Shahnama was written in between 977 and 1010, and is considered the national epic of Iran. It tells mainly the mythical and, to some extent, the historical past of the Persian Empire, from the creation of the world until the Islamic conquest of Persia in the seventh century.