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Aug 13, 2020

Rustam Takes Aim at Ashkabus, from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings)

c. 1425–50

Sultanate India, Deccan or Malwa

Gum tempera and ink on paper

Folio: 31.8 x 25.6 cm (12 1/2 x 10 1/16 in.); Painting: 13.7 x 20.5 cm (5 3/8 x 8 1/16 in.)

Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2020.204

Location

not on view

Did you know?

In the upside-down inscription in the top margin: The Heavens cried, “Excellent!” and the Moon said “Well Done!”

Description

The central warrior is Iran’s mythic hero Rustam, who approached an enemy army on foot, aiming to shoot the general off his mount. This page is from the oldest surviving illustrated Islamic manuscript made in India. The painting is by a local artist working for a Sultanate patron in India who admired Persian literature and emulated the erudite court culture of Iran.

Inscriptions

Inscription

The heavens themselves echo the action of the arrow;/ Fate said “Take it!” and Fortune nodded “Give!”/ The Heavens cried, “Excellent!” and the Moon said “Well Done!”

Inscription Remark

On top of the page in black script in the margin is a famous line which occurs in some manuscripts but is relegated to footnotes by those who regard it as a later interpolation, although it has become proverbially popular.

Provenance

by 1696–after 1718

Muhammad Fazil

?–c. 1960

Nizam of Hyderabad, sold to Isidore Kahane

c. 1960–by 1987

(Isidore Kahane [1921–2004], Zürich, Switzerland, sold to private collector)

c. 1987–c. 2017

Private Collection, Europe, sold to Francesca Galloway and Sam Fogg

c. 2017–2020

(Francesca Galloway and Sam Fogg, London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

2020–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Goswamy, B. N. A Jainesque Sultanate Shahnama and the Context of Pre-Mughal Painting in India. Zürich, Swizerland: Museum Rietberg, 1988.

Welch, Stuart Cary. “Encounters with India: Land of Gold, Spices, and Matters Spiritual.” In Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration, edited by Jay A. Levenson, pp. 363-366. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1991.

Mason, Darielle, and B. N. Goswamy. Intimate Worlds: Indian Paintings from the Alvin O. Bellak Collection. Philadelphia, PA: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2001. p. 42

Goswamy, B. N. “The Master of the Jainesque Sultanate Shahnama.” In Masters of Indian Painting, edited by Milo C. Beach, Eberhard Fischer, and B.N. Goswamy, pp. 41–52. Zurich, Switzerland: Artibus Asiae Publishers, 2011.

Exhibition history

Martial Art of India (Indian Painting rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 11-August 21, 2022).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Rustam Takes Aim at Ashkabus, from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings)|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/2020.204|year=c. 1425–50|access-date=29 November 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Rustam Takes Aim at Ashkabus, from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings)

Rustam Takes Aim at Ashkabus, from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings)

Sultanate India, Deccan or Malwa

Location

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Description

Inscription

Inscription Remark

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