Rustam Takes Aim at Ashkabus, from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings) (c. 1425–50): Art, History and Details

Rustam Takes Aim at Ashkabus, from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings) (c. 1425–50) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The central warrior is Iran’s mythic hero Rustam, who approached an enemy army on foot, aiming to shoot the general off his mount. This page is from the oldest surviving illustrated Islamic manuscript made in India. The painting is by a local artist working for a Sultanate patron in India who admired Persian literature and emulated the erudite court culture of Iran.

Object facts

• Title: Rustam Takes Aim at Ashkabus, from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings)
• Date: c. 1425–50
• Culture: Sultanate India, Deccan or Malwa
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and ink on paper
• Dimensions: Folio: 31.8 x 25.6 cm (12 1/2 x 10 1/16 in.); Painting: 13.7 x 20.5 cm (5 3/8 x 8 1/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2020.204

A detail from the museum

In the upside-down inscription in the top margin: The Heavens cried, “Excellent!” and the Moon said “Well Done!”

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Goswamy, B. N. A Jainesque Sultanate Shahnama and the Context of Pre-Mughal Painting in India. Zürich, Swizerland: Museum Rietberg, 1988.
• Welch, Stuart Cary. “Encounters with India: Land of Gold, Spices, and Matters Spiritual.” In Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration, edited by Jay A. Levenson, pp. 363-366. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1991.
• Mason, Darielle, and B. N. Goswamy. Intimate Worlds: Indian Paintings from the Alvin O. Bellak Collection. Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2001.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.