"Kai Khusrau's War Prizes Are Pledged", Folio 225v from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp

Kai Khusrau's War Prizes are Pledged

The youthful king Kai Khusrau called his warriors together and offered rich rewards for five specific deeds he wished to be carried out in the war of revenge against the Turanians. The impetuous Bizhan volunteered for three of them and his father Giv accepted the challenge of the other two. Aqa Mirak, the third artist to be a leading influence in the production of the manuscript, was, according to a treatise on calligraphers and painters written about 1606, "an incomparable painter, very clever, enamored of his art, a bon vivant, an intimate (of the Shah), and a sage"[1].

Particularly striking in this miniature is the breathtaking use of color, which draws our eye to the youthful king, whose grace of figure and beauty of face are set forth with economic mastery by means of pure outline and delicate form. While Kai Khusrau and his sumptuous carpet and canopy could be exerpted as a single-figure study of the sort popular in contemporary album paintings, care has been taken here to place him in a harmoniously balanced composition. The broadness of style lends the scene an air of tranquility that contrasts with the figure-filled, seething battle scene of MMA 1970.301.37 (no. 77 in this catalogue).

Marie Lukens Swietochowski in [Berlin 1981]

Footnotes:

1. Welch, S.C, A King's Book of Kings: the Shah-nameh of Shah Tahmasp. New York, 1972, pp. 153–155.

Shah Tahmasp, Iran (until 1568; gifted to Selim II); Sultan Selim II (Turkish), Istanbul (from 1568); Sultan Selim III, Istanbul (by 1800); Baron Edmond James de Rothschild (French), Paris (by 1903–d. 1934); his son, Baron Maurice de Rothschild, Paris and Geneva (1934–d. 1957); his son, Baron Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild, Paris and Geneva (1957–59); [ Stiebel Ltd., New York, until 1959; sold to Houghton]; Arthur A. Houghton Jr., New York (1959–70; gifted to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A King's Book of Kings: Persian Miniatures from Shah Tahmasp's Shahnama of 1528," May 4–December 31, 1972, no catalog.

Berlin. Museum für Islamische Kunst, Pergamonmuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. "The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the M.M.A.," June 15, 1981–August 8, 1981, no. 76.

Mohl, Jules, ed. Le Livre des Rois. Vol. I. Paris, 1876. pp. 457–63.

Migeon, Gaston. "Exposition des Arts Musulmans au Musee des Arts Decoratifs." Les Arts no. 16 (1903).

Welch, Stuart Cary. A King's Book of Kings: the Shah-nameh of Shah Tahmasp. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1972. pp. 152–55, ill. pp. 153–55, 225v (color, b/w).

"Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York." In The Arts of Islam. Berlin, 1981. no. 76, pp. 190–91, ill. p. 191 (b/w).

Dickson, Martin, and Stuart Cary Welch. The Houghton Shahnameh. Vol. vols. I & II. Cambridge, Mass. and London, England: Harvard University Press, 1981. vol. II, ill. pl. 137 (b/w).

Canby, Sheila R. The Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp : The Persian Book of Kings. Madrid, 2011. p. 157, ill. folio 225v (color).

Rüstem, Ünver. "The Afterlife of a Royal Gift: The Ottoman Inserts of the Shahnama-i Shahi." Muqarnas vol. 29 (2012). pp. 288, 289, 308, ill. figs. 12,13, (color).

Canby, Sheila R. The Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp : The Persian Book of Kings. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014. pp. 199, 50, ill. fol. 225v, Full-page color ill. p. 199; detail p. 50.