- Identification and Creation
-
- Object Number
- 2002.50.160
- Title
- Text page with title “Letter of Kay Khusraw to Fariburz” (text, recto and verso), folio from a manuscript of the Shahnama by Firdawsi
- Classification
- Manuscripts
- Work Type
- manuscript folio
- Date
- 1562
- Places
- Creation Place: Middle East, Iran, Shiraz
- Period
- Safavid period
- Culture
- Persian
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/146558
- Physical Descriptions
-
- Medium
- Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper
- Dimensions
- 37 x 24 cm (14 9/16 x 9 7/16 in.)
- Provenance
- [Christies, London, 17 October 1995, lot no. 79]. [Mansour Gallery, London, before 1998], sold; to Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood, Belmont, MA (by 1998-2002), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2002.
- Acquisition and Rights
-
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art
- Accession Year
- 2002
- Object Number
- 2002.50.160
- 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
- Once Kay Khusraw assumed the throne of Iran, he launched his first military campaign against Turan to avenge the death of his father, Siyavush. With its dark sky spangled by silver stars, this painting illustrates one of the campaign's setbacks. Addled by days and nights of carousing as they celebrated initial success, the Iranian soldiers were unprepared for battle when the Turanians, led by Afrasiyab's commander-in-chief, Piran, swept down upon their camp at night. In the ensuing struggle, the Turanians destroyed two-thirds of the Iranian army.
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Published Catalogue Text: In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art , written 2013
84 A–B
Double page: Piran Attacks the Iranians at Night
A. Verso: text and illustration
Folio: 37 × 24 cm (14 9/16 × 9 7/16 in.)
2002.50.159
B. Recto: text, with title “Letter of Kay Khusraw to Fariburz”
Folio: 37 × 24 cm (14 9/16 × 9 7/16 in.)
2002.50.160
Following successful attacks on Turan by the Iranians, Afrasiyab appointed Piran to lead the Turanian army and defeat the invaders. Learning that the Iranians had let down their guard and were carousing drunkenly, Piran rallied thirty thousand soldiers and attacked their encampment in the hours of darkness, soundly defeating them. Although this painting shows the attack, its scenes of slaughter are subordinated to the beauty of the floral landscape and embellished tents and the rhythmic placement of the figures with their swinging scimitars. Sharing the restraint and delicacy of many Safavid paintings, it does not fully convey the bloody tumult and chaos that Firdawsi describes.
Mika M. Natif
- Publication History
-
Mary McWilliams, ed., In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2013), p. 230, cat. 84 A-B, ill.
- Exhibition History
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Closely Focused, Intensely Felt: Selections from the Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/07/2004 - 01/02/2005
- Related Works
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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