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Firdawsi's "Shahnama": Rustam Dragging the Khaqan of China from His Elephant

Persian
Inju period
1341
Object Place: Shiraz, Iran

Medium/Technique Ink, watercolor and gold on paper
Dimensions Height x width: 37.2 × 30 cm (14 5/8 × 11 13/16 in.)
Credit Line Denman Waldo Ross Collection
Accession Number20.1839
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia, Islamic Art
ClassificationsBooks and manuscripts
This is a single page from a well-known manuscript produced for Qivam al-Dawla wa al-Din Hasan, the chief vizier of Fars province in southern Iran. Although the dynasty he served, known as the Injuids, ruled their southern kingdom for only a brief period in the first half of the fourteenth century, a remarkable number of illustrated manuscripts survive from that time. Of the four extant copies of the Shahnama from Injuid Shiraz, only this one has a dedication.

DescriptionPage from a manuscript of the Shahnama with six columns of Persian text and a painting of Rustam, at center, lassoing the emperor of China, who appears on a white elephant at left.
ProvenanceDikran Kelekian (b. 1868 - d. 1951), New York; sold by Dikran Kelekian to Dr. Denman Waldo Ross (b. 1853 - d. 1935), Cambridge, MA; 1920, gift of Dr. Denman Waldo Ross to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 2, 1920)