- Gallery Text
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The greatest epic poem in Persian, the Shahnama was written by Firdawsi around 1010 and tells the story of the pre-Islamic kings and heroes of Iran. Although Shahnama episodes are depicted in ceramics made in Iran before the Mongol invasions of the early 1200s, illustrated manuscripts of this text are known only from the fourteenth century onward.
This folio is from a celebrated copy of the text known as the Great Ilkhanid Shahnama, one of the most complex masterpieces of Persian art. Because of its lavish production, it is assumed to have been commissioned by a high-ranking member of the Ilkhanid court and produced at the court scriptorium. The fifty-seven surviving illustrations reflect the intense interest in historical chronicles and the experimental approach to painting of the Ilkhanid period (1256–1335). The eclectic paintings reveal the cosmopolitanism of the Ilkhanid court in Tabriz, which teemed with merchants, missionaries, and diplomats from as far away as Europe and China. Here the Iranian king Bahram Gur wears a robe made of European fabric to slay a fearsome horned wolf in a setting marked by the conventions of Chinese landscape painting.
- Identification and Creation
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- Object Number
- 1960.190
- Title
- Bahram Gur Fights the Horned Wolf (painting, verso; text, recto), illustrated folio from a manuscript of the Great Ilkhanid Shahnama (Book of Kings)
- Other Titles
- Series/Book Title: Shahnama
- Classification
- Manuscripts
- Work Type
- manuscript folio
- Date
- c. 1330-1340
- Places
- Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Tabriz
- Period
- Ilkhanid period
- Culture
- Persian
- Physical Descriptions
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- Medium
- Ink, colors, gold, and silver on paper
- Dimensions
- folio: 41.5 x 30 cm (16 5/16 x 11 13/16 in.)
- Provenance
- Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, New York, NY, (by 1948), bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1960.
- Acquisition and Rights
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- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller
- Accession Year
- 1960
- Object Number
- 1960.190
- Division
- Asian and Mediterranean Art
- Contact
- am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
- The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.
- Descriptions
-
- Description
- This folio is from a celebrated copy of the text known as the Great Ilkhanid Shahnama, one of the most complex masterpieces of Persian art. Because of its lavish production, it is assumed to have been commissioned by a high-ranking member of the Ilkhanid court and produced at the court scriptorium. The fifty-seven surviving illustrations reflect the intense interest in historical chronicles and the experimental approach to painting of the Ilkhanid period (1256–1335). The eclectic paintings reveal the cosmopolitanism of the Ilkhanid court in Tabriz, which teemed with merchants, missionaries, and diplomats from as far away as Europe and China. Here the Iranian king Bahram Gur wears a robe made of European fabric to slay a fearsome horned wolf in a setting marked by the conventions of Chinese landscape painting.
- Publication History
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Maurice Sven Dimand, A Guide to an Exhibition of Islamic Miniature Painting and Book Illumination, exh. cat. (Portland, ME, 1933), fig. 10
E. de Lorey, "L'Ecole de Tabriz: l'Islam aux prises avec la Chine", Revue des Arts Asiatiques (January 1, 1935), vol. IX, p.35, plate XIV
Doris Brian, "A Reconstruction of the Miniature Cycle in the Demotte 'Shah-Nameh'", Ars Islamica, Freer Gallery of Art / Smithsonian Institution and University of Michigan (1 January 1939), vol. 6(2), pp. 97-112, no. 53, fig. 26
Ivan Stchoukine, Les peintures du Shan-nameh Demotte, Arts Asiatiques (1958), vol. V, pp. 83-96
Eric Schroeder, "Mrs. Rockefeller's Miniatures at the Fogg", The Connoisseur (August 1961), vol. 148, pp. 70-75, fig. 1
A Survey of the Collections, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1964)
Ernst Grube, The World of Islam (New York, NY, 1966), p. 61, fig. 37
J.B. Travis, "The Battle of Ardawan and Adrashir from the Demotte Shah-Nameh", The Art Quarterly (Spring 1968), vol. XXXI, no. 1, pp. 63-75, fig. 8
David Talbot-Rice, Islamic Painting: A Survey (Edinburgh, Scotland, 1971), pp.94, pl. IV
Marianna Shreve Simpson, Arab and Persian Painting in the Fogg Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1980), pp. 11-12, 23, 28-29, no. 6, ill.
Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), page 72, figure 75
Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom, Art and Architecture of Islam: 1250 - 1800 (New Haven, CT, 1994), 31, fig. 36
James Cuno, Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Ivan Gaskell, and William W. Robinson, Harvard's Art Museums: 100 Years of Collecting, ed. James Cuno, Harvard University Art Museums and Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (Cambridge, MA, 1996), page 128-129
Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair, Islam: A Thousand Years of Faith and Power, Yale University Press (New Haven, 2002)
Linda Komaroff, ed., The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256-1353, exh. cat., Yale University Press (New Haven, CT, 2002), pp155, fig. 182; pp257, num 58
David Roxburgh, "Micrographia: Toward a Visual Logic of Persianate Painting", Islamic Arts (Spring 2003), p.14, fig.2
- Exhibition History
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Arab and Persian Painting, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 02/10/1981 - 03/09/1981
Portraiture in Iran and India, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 12/09/1983 - 02/01/1984
Diverse are their Hues: Animals in Islamic Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 12/18/1984 - 02/09/1985
Paintings for Princes: The Art of the Book in Islam, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/27/1990 - 03/25/1990
Transformations: Asia East and West, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 12/19/1992 - 02/14/1993
Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture 1256-1353 (The), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 10/28/2002 - 02/16/2003; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 04/13/2003 - 07/27/2003
32Q: 2550 Islamic, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/01/2014 - 05/14/2015
- Subjects and Contexts
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Collection Highlights
Google Art Project
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This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu