Faridun Strikes Zahhak, Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings)

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Faridun Strikes Zahhak, Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings)

India, Mughal Empire, circa 1610
Drawings; watercolors
Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper
Sheet: 13 5/8 x 9 in. (34.61 x 22.86 cm); Image: 5 7/8 x 4 1/4 in. (14.92 x 10.8 cm)
From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase (M.78.9.5)
South and Southeast Asian Art
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

The Shahnama (Book of Kings) is an epic Persian poem composed by Firdausi (or Ferdowsi; circa 934-1020) in circa 977-1010....
The Shahnama (Book of Kings) is an epic Persian poem composed by Firdausi (or Ferdowsi; circa 934-1020) in circa 977-1010. It narrates the legendary and historical past of the Persian Empire until the Arab Muslim conquest in the 7th century. Mounted in ornate gilded borders featuring a landscape with scenes of animal combat, similar to those of the 1608 Farhang-i Jahangiri (Jahangir’s Dictionary; see M.73.5.535–.537), this folio has been attributed to a now-dispersed royal album. A related folio suggested by Linda Leach to be from a court copy of this manuscript is in Cleveland Museum of Art (1945.171). According to the marginal inscriptions, the LACMA folio was painted by Bishandas (India, active circa 1590-1640) and Inayd Inayat (India, active circa 1590-1615?). Inayat may have been responsible for the design and overall execution, while Bishandas executed the figures. This folio depicts an episode from the Shahnama in which the hero Faridun strikes the evil Iranian King Zahhak with an ox-headed mace (gorz) symbolic of righteous might that was also wielded by other heroes in the Shahnama, particularly Bahram Gur and Rustam. (For a typological example, see a 19th-century Iranian ox-headed mace in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; 36.25.1882.) Zahhak had confronted Faridun in the former’s palace after Faridun occupied it during his absence and dallied with his wives. The women of the harem look on in dismay, while Zahhak’s army engages Faridun’s followers at the gate.
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Bibliography

  • Art of India and Southeast Asia.  University of Illinois, Champaign: Krannert Art Museum, 1964.
  • Rosenfield, John.  The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection.  Boston:  Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1966.
  • Art of India and Southeast Asia.  University of Illinois, Champaign: Krannert Art Museum, 1964.
  • Rosenfield, John.  The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection.  Boston:  Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1966.
  • Pal, Pratapaditya, ed.  Aspects of Indian Art: Papers Presented in a Symposium at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  Leiden, The Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1972.
  • Heeramaneck, Alice N.  Masterpieces of Indian Painting : From the Former Collections of Nasli M. Heeramaneck.  New York:  A.N. Heeramaneck, 1984.
  • Pal, Pratapaditya. Indian Painting, vol.1. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1993.
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