Gudarz Pays Homage to Kay Khusraw and Shows Him the Enemy Corpses (painting, verso; text, recto), folio from a manuscript of the Shahnama by Firdawsi
1575-1590
Description
After assuming the throne, Kay Khusraw summoned his best warriors, heroes, and chieftains to battle Afrasiyab and the Turanians. When the war was nearly won, the king came to join his forces. In the painting he and the hero Rustam appear on horseback at the left. The Iranian warrior Gudarz and his sons have dismounted, and one of them kneels in front of Rustam and Kay Khusraw. Four severed heads on the ground between the two groups and five more on spikes at upper right represent the enemy corpses mentioned in the text and offer proof of the Iranians’ success. The composition is studded with soldiers, mounted or on foot, observing the event.
Dimensions
42.9 x 27.1 cm (16 7/8 x 10 11/16 in.)
Provenance
[Mansour Gallery, London, 1990 or 1992], sold; to Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood, Belmont, MA (1990 or 1992 - 2002), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2002.
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