(c) 2016 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Rustam Fighting with Suhrab

author Ferdowsi (Tus, Iran, 935 CE)

illuminator Unknown

Date14th century

Place MadeShiraz, Fars province, Iran, Middle East

MediumGold and colors on paper

Dimensions17 x 17 cm (6 11/16 x 6 11/16 in.)

ClassificationsManuscripts

Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

Accession numberP19w55

Status

Not on view

Web CommentaryThe leopard’s-head cap and tiger-skin coat on the figure on the left identify him as Rustam, the legendary hero of the “Shah-nemah” or “Book of Kings,” the great national Persian epic written in the tenth century by poet Ferdowsi. The text on the back of the miniature names Rustam’s opponent as Suhrab, his son by the Turanian princess Tahmina. The two men have refused to identify themselves, and the confrontation ends tragically as Suhrab, mortally wounded, reveals to his opponent the jeweled talisman which Rustam had given as a keepsake to his mother Tahmina many years earlier.

Id718734

Last Updated8/14/24

EmbARK ObjectID13429

Source ID2362