"Rustam Lassos the Khaqan of Chin, Pulling him from his White Elephant", Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings)

Rustam Lassos the Khaqan of Chin, Pulling him from his White Elephant

The Khaqan of Chin had become an ally of the Turanians, and faced the Iranians with a vast army, including many sumptuously adorned war elephants. Rustam, despite the enormous odds, was determined to capture him and take the booty to the shah Kai Khusrau. Rustam charged through a barrage of missiles unscathed, flung his lasso, pulled the khaqan from his white elephant, bound him as a prisoner, and sent the booty to the shah.

The illustration is reduced to the principal figures, each of whom has one attendant. The khaqan, with the lasso around his shoulders (not his neck as the text specifies), holds on to it, trying vainly to resist its inexorable force in Rustam's hands. The figure behind Rustam (perhaps Ruhham, sent to guard his back) holds an ox-headed mace (of the type found in the Mu'nis al-ahrar), a symbol of Iranian vengeance.

Both the Freer and First Small Shahnamas have an illustration of this episode, but neither is published.[1]

Mary Lukens Swietochowski in [Swietochowski and Carboni 1994]

Notes:

1. Simpson, M. S., The Illustration of an Epic; The Earliest Shahnama Manuscripts. New York, 1979, pp. 356 (Spink, 1977, no. 66), 371 (Chester Beatty Library, Ms. 104.25).

Ph. Walter Schulz, Leipzig, Germany (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. 20.

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. 20, pp. 72, 73, 79, 96, ill. pl. 20 (b/w).