This nim qalam (half-pen) lightly tinted drawing depicts the story of King Dara and the herdsman. The legendary King Dara (or Dara II) was the last king of the mythical Kayanian dynasty of ancient Iran. He is usually associated with Darius III (r. 336–330 BCE), the last king of the Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BCE). According to the moralistic tale related in Chapter 1 of the Bustan (Orchard) composed in 1257 by the celebrated Persian poet Sa’di (1210-1291), King Dara becomes separated from his hunting party. He is approached by an unfamiliar man and, assuming he is an enemy, draws his bow. The man identifies himself as the royal herdsman and reminds Dara of their previous encounters. The herdsman reproaches the king for being unable to distinguish friend from foe, whereas he can tell one horse out of thousands. The moral of the story is that the kingdom will suffer when the wisdom of the shepherd exceeds that of its king.
Illustrations of King Dara and the herdsman appear in 15th- and 16th-century manuscripts of the Bustan, including a work of circa 1489 signed by the great Persian painter Bihzad (circa 1460-1535), now in the Egyptian National Library, Cairo. They are also found in early Mughal painting, such as in a manuscript produced in Agra in circa 1604, now in the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (AKM284.3).
This folio is likely a 19th-century copy. It has an apocryphal signature: amal-i Muhammad Taqi (work of Muhammad Taqi), an artist who worked for Emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605).
