An illustrated and illuminated leaf from a manuscript of Firdausi's Shahnameh: The King of Mazandaran Turns into a Rock, Transoxiana, Shaybanid, 16th century

Gouache heightened with gold on paper, with 9 lines of text above and below the painting in nasta'liq script in black ink, within 4 columns, the figure of Rustam with pounced outline, separated by double intercolumnar rules, margins ruled in colours and gold, outer borders filled with leafy interlacing vines, reverse with 21 lines of text including a heading in red

Ex-collection Kirkor Minassian 1938
Ex-collection Hans P. Kraus

Ernst J. Grube, Islamic Paintings from the 11th to the 18th century in the Collection of Hans P. Kraus, New York, 1972, no.50, pl.XIV

In generally good overall condition, some wear and fading to outer margins, a few creases and stains, otherwise good, as viewed.
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Under Shaybanid rule between 1500 and 1598, Transoxiana enjoyed a thriving period of artistic activity unter the patronage of Ubaydullah Khan (r.1512-39), Abd al-Aziz Khan (r.1540-49) and later, on under Abdullah Khan (r.1561-83). A number of artists had come from Herat, and artists such as Shaykh Zada, Mahmud Mudhahhib and 'Abdullah developed what became a flourishing local style of painting. During this period, numerous luxurious illustrated manuscripts were produced for the rulers of Bukhara and Samarkand (see M.M. Ashrafi-Aini, 'The School of Bukhara to c.1550' in B. Gray (ed), The Arts of the Book in Central Asia, London, 1979, pp.249-72 and O. Akimushkin, 'Biblioteka Shibanidov v Bukhare XVI veka', in I. Baldauf and M Friederich (eds), Bamberger Zentralasienstudien, Berlin, 1994, pp.325-41).

The present painting depicts the fight between Rustam and the King of Mazandaran. Confronted by Rustam amid a hilly landscape, the King of Mazandaran, in order to defend himself and his horse, transforms into stone, which in this instance takes the form of a multicoloured anthropomorphic rock formation of the Timurid period, rather than the simple boulder form that can be seen in other depictions (see Ernst J. Grube, Islamic Paintings from the 11th to the 18th century in the Collection of Hans P. Kraus, New York, 1972, p.89, no.50, where he attributes the leaf to fifteenth-century Shiraz). Other high-quality versions of this rather rare scene exist as follows: a leaf from a Shahnameh of circa 1420 copied for Ibrahim Sultan Ibn Shah Rukh in the Bodleian Library, Oxford (Ouseley Add.176, published in Binyon et al 1933, pl.XL, B.46(e) and p.68); a Shahnameh leaf dated 1460 in the Russian National Library, St. Petersburg (Dorn 332, f.61v) and a Shahnameh leaf from sixteenth-century Herat in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (W.602, f.82b).

Only one other folio from the same Shahnameh manuscript as the present example appears to exist, in the John Hay Library, Brown University, Providence (I 203 X), which depicts the 'Fire Ordeal of Siyavush', with the same wide outer borders of interlacing leafy foliage, and an almost identical backdrop comprising two hills, low trees and flowering shrubs. However, related manuscript illustrations from the same period and region can be found in T. Pugachenkova and O. Galerkina, Miniatures of Central Asia, Moscow, 1979, nos. 19, 22, 26 and 38. One further folio from this rare manuscript exists, also in the Brown University Library (I 210 X), but the leaf comprises a Mughal miniature which has been later pasted down instead of an original scene from the Shahnameh.

An interesting feature of the present painting is the pounced figure of Rustam and his horse, indicating that this composition may have been used as a stencil for other illustrations.