The Shahnamah is the national epic of Iran and tells the history of Iran (Persia) from the earliest times to the Arab invasion in the early 7th century AD. It is the longest poem ever written by a single author and comprises some 50,000 verses.

This volume of the Shahnamah was made for the seventeenth century Persian nobleman and Governor of Mashhad, Qarajaghay Khan, and contains 756 folios with 149 coloured illustrations. The text was completed by the calligrapher Muhammad Hakim al-Husayni in April/May 1648 and set into borders decorated with animals, birds, trees and floral arabesques painted in gold. The book opens with two double pages of illuminations. 149 full-page paintings by the celebrated Persian artists Malik Husayn Isfahani, Muhammad Qasim and Muhammad Yusuf illustrate the text. 

The painted and lacquered covers of the binding are a later addition to the manuscript, dated March/April 1747, signed by the artist Ali Ashraf.

From c. 1747-1822 the manuscript was in the library of the Durrani kings of Afghanistan. Kamran Shah, the ruler of Herat, inherited the manuscript in 1822 and sent it as a gift to Queen Victoria in 1839.