Historic miniature illustrations become even more miniature.

Jaeger-LeCoultre has looked to the Shahnameh for inspiration in 2025, focusing on the most famous edition, the Persian Books of Kings. This edition of the Shahnameh, dedicated to Shah Tahmasp, is a real treasure trove of Persian miniature illustrations.

The manuscript contained 759 pages, 258 of which were miniatures. It was commissioned by Shah Ismail I for his son Shah Tahmasp, created in Tabriz, and was later given to the Ottoman Sultan Selim II as a gift.

When the Ottoman Empire fell apart in the early 1900s, the manuscript appeared in the collection of Edmond James de Rothschild. Some of the miniature illustrations were later donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, while others were sold to privately and publicly owned collections around the world.

So Jaeger-LeCoultre's new four-piece Reverso Tribute Enamel "Shahnameh" series reunites illustrations now housed in the Metropolitan Museum, the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, and the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin.

They form a distinct new collection of miniature illustrations that the watchmakers found most interesting. The narratives they selected for the dials are Siyavush Plays Polo Before Afrasiyab, Faridun Tests His Sons, Saam on Mount Alburz, and Rustam Pursues Akvan.

There are less original miniature illustrations left now, which are masterpieces in their own right, where artists often painted using brushes with just one squirrel hair. The watchmaker has managed to transfer the works from pages measuring approximately 48 cm × 32 cm to surfaces measuring 2 cm².

Preserving the surprising vitality of the palette used for the Persian miniature illustrations posed another challenge for the artists. In order to ensure that the colors on the Tribute Enamel casebacks are just as rich and bright, the artists used Grand Feu enamel and the technique of paillonnage with tiny pieces of fine gold leaf.

Hand-crafting each piece takes 100 hours of miniature painting and paillonnage. A harmonious tone and pattern for the dial was selected to match each miniature. The miniatures are displayed on the back of white-gold cases measuring 45.6 mm × 27.4 mm × 9.73 mm.

All of the novelties are equipped with manually wound Jaeger-LeCoultre Caliber 822 movements with a 42-hour power reserve. Availability of each of the four models is limited to ten pieces — quite a lot for hand-crafted works of art.