Firdawsi: From Shahnama, Rustam Rescues Bijan From the Pit (d.1020)

screenshot-2018-3-29-folio-from-a-shahnama-book-of-kings-by-firdawsi-d-1020-verso-rustam-rescues-bijan-from-the-pit-r4-e1530740693960 — Folio from a Shahnama (Book of kings) by Firdawsi (d.1020); verso: Rustam rescues Bijan from the pit; r Via Google Arts & Culture

What is the Shahnama?

The Shahnama is Iran’s national epic and one of the world’s great literary masterpieces completed in ca. 1010 by the poet Firdawsi.

…the Shahnama recounts the myths, legends and “history” of Iran from the beginning of time to the Arab conquest in the 7th century.

Quote from Shahnama: 1000 Years of the Persian Book of Kings

Source: The Smithsonians’s Freer/Sackler Museums of Asian Arts

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Folio from a Shahnama (Book of kings) by Firdawsi (d.1020); verso: Rustam rescues Bijan from the pit; r Via Google Arts & Culture (detail)

Folio from a Shahnama (Book of kings) by Firdawsi (d.1020); verso: Rustam rescues Bijan from the pit; r Via Google Arts & Culture

Folio from a Shahnama (Book of kings) by Firdawsi (d.1020); verso: Rustam rescues Bijan from the pit; r Via Google Arts & Culture (detail)

Folio from a Shahnama (Book of kings) by Firdawsi (d.1020); verso: Rustam rescues Bijan from the pit; recto:

Details

Title: Folio from a Shahnama (Book of kings) by Firdawsi (d.1020); verso: Rustam rescues Bijan from the pit; recto: text
Date Created: circa 1590-1600
Location: Iran, Shiraz
External Link: For more information about this and thousands of other works of art in the Freer|Sackler collection, please visit http://www.asia.si.edu/.
Medium:Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Historical Period: Safavid period
Credit Line: Purchase–Smithsonian Unrestricted Trust Funds, Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, and Dr. Arthur M. Sackler
Collection: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery