Abu'l Qasim Firdausi | "Rustam Captures the Shah of Sham and the Shah of Berber", Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi

Title: "Rustam Captures the Shah of Sham and the Shah of Berber", Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi

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 1/16 in. (20.5 cm)
W. 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm)
Painting:
H. 1 7/8 in. (4.7 cm)
W. 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm)

Classification: Codices

Credit Line: Bequest of Monroe C. Gutman, 1974

Object Number: 1974.290.8

Rustam Captures the Shah of Sham and the Shah of Berber

Rustam, at the head of the Persian forces, has been called upon to defeat the combined armies of the shah of Hamavaran—who through treachery has captured the Persian shah, Kai Kavus—and his allies, the shahs of Sham and Berber. After much carnage and bloodshed Rustam seizes the allied kings and the shah of Hamavaran sues for peace. In the miniature of this rarely illustrated episode[1] the arrows of the opposing armies fly. Rustam—in the foreground on the right—by the position of his hands appears to be lassoing the shah of Sham (according to the details of the text, although the lasso is missing). The shah of Sham is shown on the left bending forward on his horse as if pulled on the lasso.

Mary Lukens Swietochowski in [Swietochowski and Carboni 1994]

Footnotes:

1. See J. Norgren and E. Davis, Preliminary Index of Shah-Nameh Illustrations, Ann Arbor, 1969, in which there is only one entry: Rustam Lassos the King of Sham (Windsor Castle, Royal Library, Holmes 151 [A/6], f. 107), dated 1648.

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. 14.

Schulz, Ph. Walter. Die Persisch-Islamische Miniaturmalerei. Vol. vols. I, II. Leipzig: Hiersemann, 1914. vol. 1, p.14.

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. 14, p. 90, ill. (b/w).