Large 19th-Century Hand-Painted Kalamkari

A large nineteenth-century kalamkari depicting Farangis, daughter of the warrior Afrasiab (from Shahnama / The Book of Kings), surrounded by portraits of conquest kings and notables. Figurative hangings such as this were used as aids when telling stories from Shahnama, which was written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi in 1010.

The portraits hand-painted using natural organic dyes according to the kalamkari tradition, with a decorative block-printed border. In good antique condition. Some marks and light foxing and a generalised patina of age, as is to be expected of an antique textile from this era. Also some historic mends and conservation work. Backed in a sympathetic light-weight cotton.