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Lot Essay
This vivid scene from Firdausi’s Shahnameh (Book of Kings) captures the moment in which the hero Rustam selects his legendary steed, Rakhsh (“Lightning”), forging one of the most celebrated partnerships in Persian epic literature. Rustam is shown roping the colt of his choice from a herd of half-wild horses, while herdsmen observe from higher up the hillside, one serenely playing a long flute. The episode marks the beginning of a bond that would define Rustam’s heroic career, as Rakhsh becomes his faithful companion through the battles and adventures that account for much of the Shahnameh’s enduring popularity.
The composition balances narrative clarity with poetic atmosphere. The tension of the roping action is set against the calm detachment of the herdsmen, whose elevated vantage point and music lend the scene a pastoral rhythm. This interplay between controlled action and lyrical observation underscores the epic’s human dimension, transforming a moment of selection into one of destiny fulfilled. A closely related rendering of this subject is preserved in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (13.160.5), underscoring the popularity and canonical status of this episode within illustrated Shahnameh manuscripts.
The painting is attributable to Muhammad Sharif by the inscription in the lower register, son of the celebrated court artist Abd al-Samad, one of the most influential painters active at the Mughal court during the mid-sixteenth century. Abd al-Samad, who served from approximately 1550 to 1595 and headed the imperial atelier under Akbar from about 1572, exerted a profound influence on his son’s artistic formation. The faint outlining of the rocky landscape in the present work closely recalls Abd al-Samad’s hand, notably in such works as Prince Akbar and Noblemen Hawking (ca. 1555–58), formerly in the Benkaim Collection and now in the Cleveland Museum of Art (2013.292.a).
Equally significant is the use of dark, emphatic outlining around the horse, a feature that maintains a strong allegiance to Safavid pictorial aesthetics. This stylistic lineage is most clearly articulated in Abd al-Samad’s celebrated depiction of two fighting camels, painted in his eighty-fifth year as a gift to his son, Muhammad Sharif, and conceived as a personal homage to the great Iranian master Bihzad (ca. 1450–1535⁄36). In the present painting, this Safavid inheritance is harnessed to this epic narrative, lending Rakhsh a monumental presence befitting his future role as Rustam’s indispensable ally. In its epic storytelling, refined observation, and inherited artistic tradition, the painting stands as a compelling testament to the continuity and evolution of Persianate manuscript painting in the early Mughal period.
The composition balances narrative clarity with poetic atmosphere. The tension of the roping action is set against the calm detachment of the herdsmen, whose elevated vantage point and music lend the scene a pastoral rhythm. This interplay between controlled action and lyrical observation underscores the epic’s human dimension, transforming a moment of selection into one of destiny fulfilled. A closely related rendering of this subject is preserved in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (13.160.5), underscoring the popularity and canonical status of this episode within illustrated Shahnameh manuscripts.
The painting is attributable to Muhammad Sharif by the inscription in the lower register, son of the celebrated court artist Abd al-Samad, one of the most influential painters active at the Mughal court during the mid-sixteenth century. Abd al-Samad, who served from approximately 1550 to 1595 and headed the imperial atelier under Akbar from about 1572, exerted a profound influence on his son’s artistic formation. The faint outlining of the rocky landscape in the present work closely recalls Abd al-Samad’s hand, notably in such works as Prince Akbar and Noblemen Hawking (ca. 1555–58), formerly in the Benkaim Collection and now in the Cleveland Museum of Art (2013.292.a).
Equally significant is the use of dark, emphatic outlining around the horse, a feature that maintains a strong allegiance to Safavid pictorial aesthetics. This stylistic lineage is most clearly articulated in Abd al-Samad’s celebrated depiction of two fighting camels, painted in his eighty-fifth year as a gift to his son, Muhammad Sharif, and conceived as a personal homage to the great Iranian master Bihzad (ca. 1450–1535⁄36). In the present painting, this Safavid inheritance is harnessed to this epic narrative, lending Rakhsh a monumental presence befitting his future role as Rustam’s indispensable ally. In its epic storytelling, refined observation, and inherited artistic tradition, the painting stands as a compelling testament to the continuity and evolution of Persianate manuscript painting in the early Mughal period.