Rustam's seventh course: He kills the White Div, folio 124 from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (Persian, about 934–1020)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Rustam's seventh course: He kills the White Div, folio 124 from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (Persian, about 934–1020)

Mir Musavvir

Date
1520–37
Medium
Gum tempera, ink, gold, and silver on paper
Culture
Iran, Tabriz, Safavid period (1501-1722)
Department
Islamic Art
Institution
Cleveland Museum of Art

The legendary hero Rustam brutally takes the demon chief’s liver blood, needed to cure his king of blindness. Paintings from the Shah-nama made for the Persian ruler Shah Tahmasp (reigned 1524–76) were acclaimed in their day for their brilliant coloring and refinement. Seven of the artists who contributed to this book moved to India to lead the new Mughal painting workshop in the 1550s. They introduced to the Indian artists a more complex color sensibility and preference for presenting faces in three-quarter view, as opposed to in profile. The Shahnameh is a mixture of a mythology and a history of the Iranian people.

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