Folio from a Shahnama (Book of kings) by Firdawsi (died 1020); recto: text and illustration: Rustam rescues Bijan from the well; verso: text

Object Details

• Description

  Detached folio from a dispersed copy of the Shahnama (Book of kings) by Firdawsi; text: Persian in black and red naskh script; illustration and text: Rustam rescues Bijan from the well, 6 columns, 21 lines; reverse: text, 6 columns, 30 lines; one of a group of 7 folios.

  Border: The text and the painting have been remargined and mounted on to another paper.

• Label

  The story of the Persian hero Bizhan and the Turanian princess Manizha, the daughter of Afrasiyab, is a rare romantic interlude in the feuds between Iran and Turan in the Shahnama (Book of kings), the Persian national epic. When the Turanian tyrant Afrasiyab finds out about his daughter's love for Bizhan, he captures the youth and imprisons him in a well. This fourteenth-century illustration depicts the final episode in the romance, when Rustam comes to Bizhan's aid. According to Firdawsi, when Rustam's companions are unable to move the rock covering the well, "With a prayer to the creator to be granted strength, he [Rustam] stretched out his hand and without a moment's delay lifted the boulder, which he threw into the forest in the land of China, thus causing the whole surface of the earth to quake."

• Provenance

  To 1945

  Dikran G. Kelekian (1868-1951), Cairo, Egypt, Paris, France, and New York to 1945 [1]

  From 1945

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Dikran G. Kelekian, New York, in 1945 [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See Freer Gallery or Art Purchase List after 1920, Collections Management Office.

  [2] See note 1.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Engaging the Senses (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  Arts of the Islamic World (May 3, 1998 to January 3, 2016)

  Near Eastern Art—Paintings, Metalwork (August 18, 1967 to February 10, 1972)

  Near Eastern Art (January 1, 1963 to August 18, 1967)

  Special Exhibition of Persian Art (May 1, 1960 to August 11, 1961)

  Untitled Exhibition, Islamic Manuscripts, 1955 (April 12, 1955 to December 16, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, Islamic Manuscripts, 1947 (October 6, 1947 to February 25, 1956)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Dikran Garabed Kelekian (1868-1951)

• Origin

  Shiraz, Iran

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Manuscript

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1300s

• Name

  Kelekian, Dikran Garabed

• Place

  Shiraz

• Topic

  Art, Bijan, Rustam, Inju dynasty (1335 - 1357), Arts of the Islamic World, Mongol period (1220 - 1380), Shahnama

• Culture

  Muslims, Iranians, Afrasiyabs

• Object Type

  Manuscripts