Cleveland Museum of Art
A scene of the life of Alexander from the Sharaf-nameh
- Date
- 1500s
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper
- Culture
- Iran, probably Shiraz, Safavid period (1501-1722)
- Department
- Islamic Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
This rare scene from the life of Alexander depicts a poor and pious woman falling into a desperate situation and giving birth to a son in some desolate place. Philip, the Macedonian ruler, is on a hunt and passes the ruin. Seeing the deceased woman with a hungry baby by her side, the King orders his followers to tend to the burial of the woman and brings up the orphan making him his crown prince. This scene is from the Sharaf-nameh , the poetical version of the life of Alexander by the 12th-century Persian poet Niẓāmī Ganjavī.
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