"Gustaham Slays Lahhak and Farshidvard", Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings)

Gustaham Slays Lahhak and Farshidvard

Piran, the wise old commander-in-chief of the Turanians, had been slain. He had advised his brothers that in such an event his army had been promised quarter, but the Turanian nobles would be in mortal danger. Therefore the two brothers fled toward Turan, pursued by Gustaham. The brothers turned to fight him, but one, Farshidvard, was killed by a sword thrust. Frenzied by grief Lahhak loosed his arrows. Both cavaliers were wounded, but then Gustaham charged and cut off his opponent's head. Thus ended a royal line.

The artist has depicted a full-fledged battle scene against a gold background. The epic limits the scene to three participants, so that it is difficult to identify the main protagonists here. Is it Gustaham galloping from the right? Is Farshidvard tumbling from the horse, or is he the dead figure at he lower right? In the illustration of this encounter in the First Small Shahnama in the Metropolitan's collection (see MMA no. 69.74.4) the action is clear and the text of the poem closely followed. Farshidvard has fallen, Lahhak is loosing his arrows from the left, and Gustaham is wielding his sword at the right. The ground is also gold, but that is the only comparable element between the two paintings, which otherwise have no connection.

Mary Lukens Swietochowski in [Swietochowski and Carboni 1994]

Ph. Walter Schulz, New York (by 1914); Professor O. Moll, Düsseldorf, Germany ; Monroe C. Gutman, New York (by 1929–d. 1974; bequeathed to MMA)

New York. The Hagop Kevorkian Special Exhibitions Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Illustrated Poetry and Epic Images: Persian Painting of the 1330s and 1340s," February 1–May 1, 1994, no. 25.

Schulz, Ph. Walter. Die Persisch-Islamische Miniaturmalerei. Vol. vols. I, II. Leipzig: Hiersemann, 1914. vol. 1, pp. 74–75.

Masuya, Tomoko. "The Condition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Small Shahnama and the Reconstruction of its Text." In Poetry and Epic Images, edited by Marie Lukens Swietochowski, and Stefano Carboni. New York, 1994. pp. 129–45.

Swietochowski, Marie, Stefano Carboni, Tomoko Masuya, and Alexander H. Morton. Illustrated Poetry and Epic Images : Persian Painting of the 1330s and 1340s. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994. no. 25, pp. 72, 101, ill. p. 101 (b/w).