- Title
- Meeting of Piran Viseh and Goudarz, Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings)
- Date Made
- circa 1475-1500
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor, gold, and black and red ink on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 4 3/4 x 7 1/8 in. (12.07 x 18.1 cm); Sheet: 12 x 9 1/4 in. (30.48 x 23.5 cm)
- Accession Number
- 57.17.3
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
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. Shahnama manuscripts were frequently produced throughout the Islamic world, including in South Asia. This folio and its set mates (57.17.4, 57.17.7, 57.17.10) are from a dispersed Shahnama that has stylistic antecedents from late 15th-century illustrated manuscripts produced in Herat, Afghanistan and Shiraz, Iran. (For example, see a folio from a Khavaranama (The Book of Eastern Exploits) of circa 1477 in the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (AKM44.)
This folio is from the story of Siyavush, which is recounted in the seventh book of the Shahnama. It depicts a battlefield meeting of Piran Viseh, the army commander of the mythical King Afrasiyab (or Afrasiab), the ruler of the legendary kingdom of Turan in Central Asia, and Goudarz, the army commander of the mythical King Kay Khusraw (or Khosrow) of Iran. After several individual combats between the Turanian and Iranian heroes, Goudarz kills Piran Viseh in the battle of Davazdah Rokh in Khorasan, Iran.
See also M.90.160.1.
- Selected Bibliography
- Pal, Pratapaditya. Indian Painting, vol.1. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1993.
