id: 136323 accession number: 1960.199.b share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1960.199.b updated: 2023-08-23 21:30:47.315000 Rustam meets the challenge of Ashkabus, from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (Persian, about 934–1020), c. 1590–1600. Iran, Shiraz, Safavid period (1501-1722). Opaque watercolor and gold on paper; overall: 31 x 20.1 cm (12 3/16 x 7 15/16 in.); text area: 25.4 x 15.7 cm (10 x 6 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of John C. Heege 1960.199.b title: Rustam meets the challenge of Ashkabus, from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (Persian, about 934–1020) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1590–1600 creation date earliest: 1590 creation date latest: 1600 current location: creditline: Gift of John C. Heege copyright: --- culture: Iran, Shiraz, Safavid period (1501-1722) technique: opaque watercolor and gold on paper department: Islamic Art collection: Islamic Art type: Manuscript find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 31 x 20.1 cm (12 3/16 x 7 15/16 in.); Text area: 25.4 x 15.7 cm (10 x 6 3/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Script: none translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Art and Stories from Mughal India opening date: 2016-07-31T04:00:00 Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE (Ascheroff, Paris, France) date: footnotes: citations: John C. Heege [1904–1990], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?–1960 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1960– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The enemy ruler of China sits in a howdah on the back of a white elephant. digital description: wall description: Iran was losing a battle against Turan and the armies of its assembled allies from India and China. The hero Rustam arrived to pull the Iranian army back from the brink of destruction, slaying the enemy warrior Ashkabus on foot while allowing his horse Rakhsh to rest after a long, hard journey. The vast number of armies involved in the battle is indicated by the many banners that extend beyond the illustration’s top border. This painting was probably produced at Shiraz, one of Iran’s major cultural centers, far to the south of the Safavid capital of Tabriz. Artists and works of art moved back and forth steadily between Shiraz and the Deccan in southwestern India during the 1500s and 1600s.

The section of the Shah-nama on the recto is famous for the clever conversational repartee between Rustam and his opponent Ashkabus. When Ashkabus remarked that in choosing not to ride a horse Rustam had signed his own death warrant, Rustam retorted, “Would it be the case then that in your country . . . lions, tigers, and crocodiles [all] ride on horses to battle?” Rustam then brought down the horse of Ashkabus with a single arrow; his next arrow pierced Ashkabus in the chest. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 222 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n246 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 222 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n246 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 279 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n299 --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.199.b/1960.199.b_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.199.b/1960.199.b_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.199.b/1960.199.b_full.tif