A wrestling match was often the final phase of single combat encounters. In this case, the prince gambled that the reigning Shah of Iran would not risk the indignity of wrestling on foot. Kai Khusrau, however, thinking of the loss of Iranian warriors at the hands of Shida, felt compelled to dash him to the ground, ending his life. The two hind legs and tail of the horse at right were probably added by a later hand.
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Title:"Kai Khusrau Wrestles with Shida", Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings)
Author:Abu'l Qasim Firdausi (Iranian, Paj ca. 940/41–1020 Tus)
Date:ca. 1330–40
Geography:Attributed to Iran, probably Isfahan
Medium:Ink, opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper
Dimensions:Page: H. 8 in. (20.3 cm) W. 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm) Painting: H. 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm) W. 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm)
Classification:Codices
Credit Line:Bequest of Monroe C. Gutman, 1974
Object Number:1974.290.16
Kai Khusrau Wrestles with Shida
Shida, son of Afrasiyab, was determined to engage in a single combat encounter with Kai Khusrau, who agreed to the challenge. Shida, in spite of his bravery and prowess, soon realized he was no match for the Iranian shah, and suggested that they wrestle, in the belief that Kai Khusrau would find it unseemly, as a reigning monarch, to dismount and fight on foot. Kai Khusrau divined Shida's thoughts, however, and aware of the many Iranian nobles whom Shida would slay in battle if allowed to rest and return to the fray, the shah agreed. He grabbed the prince, held him up, and flung him to the ground, killing him.
The moment when Shida is about to be thrown to the ground has been chosen by the illustrator, who has placed the two figures in the center of the composition. On either side are two retainers, who stand holding the royal steeds and provide bilateral symmetry to the composition. The ground is white, and is strewn with scattered plants and grass tufts, while a cloud hovers above the protagonists. The rear of the horse at the right was hidden by the picture frame, but a later resorer has added two hind legs and a tail very awkwardly.
This episode is illustrated in the First Small Shahnama, but is not published.[1] It is also included in the 1333 Inju'id Shahnama in St. Petersburg, where Shida is prone on the ground, as Kai Khusrau kneels over him with with sword drawn. The two horses are at the right and the retainers at the left,[2] so that there is virtually no connection with the Gutman illustration.
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, p. 371 (Chester Beatty Library, Ms. 104.28r).
2. Adamova, A.T. and L. T. Giuzal'ian. Miniatiury rukopisi poemy "Shakhname" 1333 goda. St. Petersburg, 1985, no. 32.
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. 26.
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. 26, pp. 72–73, 79, 102, ill. p. 102 (color).
Abu'l Qasim Firdausi (Iranian, Paj ca. 940/41–1020 Tus)
last quarter 15th century
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