Around the galleries: there are several remarkable rarities on offer this month in London and New York, writes Susannah Woolmer, including Ethiopian manuscripts, poignant photographs of a vanished Africa—and a splendid cup to toast Trafalgar Day

Apollo, Oct, 2005 by Susannah Woolmer

The Shahnama, or 'Book of Kings', was composed at the close of the tenth century by the Persian poet Firdausi, who was born in about 935. Hailed as a Persian equivalent to the Iliad and Odyssey, it is thought to be the longest poem ever written by a single author. A sixteenth-century illustrated Ottoman manuscript of the Shahnama, acquired by Sir Bernard Eckstein in 1935, is being offered for a six-figure sum by Sam Fogg (15d, Clifford Street, London, 44 [0] 20 7534 2100), where it will be on display from 11 until 28 October.

Recounting tales of Persian kings from the very beginning of civilisation through to the Arab conquest of the Sassanian empire in the seventh century, the Eckstein Shahnama contains thirty-two richly detailed miniatures illustrating the poem's significant events. The characteristically Ottoman use of exuberant colours and dazzling compositions are combined with the delicate refinement of sixteenth-century royal Persian painting. As well as being astonishingly well preserved, the Shahnama is also almost completely intact--just six of its 587 folios were removed in the early twentieth century, four of which are now in the Khalili Collection.

Meanwhile, over in New York, Sam Fogg is staging the first-ever selling exhibition of Ethiopian art to take place in the us, at PaceWildenstein (18-29 October; 7th Floor, 32 East 57th Street, tel: 1 212 421 3292). As an ancient Christian culture flanked by Islamic and tribal communities, Ethiopia has always possessed a strong artistic autonomy. Over the centuries it has absorbed and responded to numerous external influences, including byzantine, African, Judaic and Arabic. This exhibition celebrates Ethiopian art from the late twelfth century through to the early 1800s and includes items from the collections of Emperors Takla Haymanot I (ruled 1706-1708) and Dawitt III (ruled 1708-21), as well as William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951). A remarkably well-preserved sheet from a Gospel Book, dating to around 1480 (illustrated here), embodies some typical stylistic features of Ethiopian medieval manuscript and wall painting in its simple palette of red, green, blue and yellow. However, the replacement of frontal with three-quarter views of the figures points to new Western influences.

When the Austrian ethnologist Hugo Bernatzik visited southern Sudan nearly eighty years ago, it was then one of the continent's remotest parts. Michael Hoppen Gallery (3 Jubilee Place, London, 44 [0] 20 7352 3649) is holding an exhibition of around 120 vintage photographs taken during his time there (until 26 November). His negatives and photographic equipment were destroyed in World War It; all that remains is one near-complete set of prints, diaries and albums, of which these prints form a significant part. The photographer's tenacity, his empathy for the indigenous peoples he encountered and his outstanding technical facility are all apparent in this exhibition, as is the poignancy of these rare images that capture an Africa still untouched by outside influences.

Mitchell-Innes & Nash is inaugurating its new Chelsea space at 534 West 26th Street, New York, with a two-part exhibition of Roy Lichtenstein paintings and works on paper dating from 1976 to 1979. Ten paintings, including Cosmology (1978), a nine-foot long canvas filled with the surrealist themes and motifs that Lichtenstein favoured, will be on display in the Chelsea gallery; uptown at 1018 Madison Avenue ( 2 212 744 7400), thirty works on paper, including various drawings being exhibited publicly for the first time, provide an interesting counter-balance. 'Lichtenstein: Surrealism' highlights the artist's complex and often wry engagement with the history of art. The exhibition will be at the Chelsea gallery from 7 October until 12 November and at Madison Avenue from 19 September until 12 November.

When raising a glass to Admiral Lord Nelson on 21 October in honour of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, a particularly appropriate drinking vessel is in order. An elegant commemorative cup, probably used to toast Nelson's victory three years after it took place, is being offered for sale by J.H. Bourdon-Smith Ltd (24 Mason's Yard, Duke Street, St James's, 44 [0] 20 7389 4714).

In the years that followed the battle, many societies sprang up around Britain to honour and remember Nelson and his achievement. One such group, calling itself 'The Anniversary', met each October in Blackheath and commissioned this presentation cup from Benjamin Smith (1764-1823) and his brother James. Bearing the names of the president of the society as well as six stewards in charge of celebrations, the cup, which incorporates a gilt-bronze casting of Thomas Webb's Nelson Memorial medal after a design by John Flaxman, is decorated with laurel and acanthus leaves, oak leaves and acorns. The Latin inscription on the memorial medal translates as 'DIED FIGHTING FOR HIS COUNTRY'.

The first exhibition in more than fifty years devoted to the paintings and drawings of Barbara Hepworth is taking place at Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert (38 Bury Street, St James's, London, 44 [0] 20 7839 7600) from 12 October to 18 November. All the works date from the 1940s, when Hepworth was based in St Ives, and include her series of works on paper depicting surgeons in theatre at the Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Hospital, Exeter. Her abstract studies here possess a delicate, geometric lyricism; it is illuminating to see Hepworth exploring sculptural concerns of space and rhythm in two-dimensional studies that reaffirm the importance of drawing as an integral tool of the sculptor.