Miniature painting - Demotte Shahnama
DATE: c. 1330
MATERIAL AND TECHNIQUE: Work on paper
CLASSIFICATION: Works on Paper
DIMENSIONS: Mat dimensions (external): 23 1/4 × 17 in. (59.06 × 43.18 cm)
DEPARTMENT: The Keir Collection of Islamic Art
CREDIT LINE: The Keir Collection of Islamic Art on loan to the Dallas Museum of Art
OBJECT NUMBER: K.1.2014.389

General Description
Keir catalogue number PP.03
Source: Dallas Museum of Art

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Fig. 186 (cat. no. 51) Iskandar Emerging from the Gloom, page from the Great Mongol Shahnama (Book of Kings), Iran (probably Tabriz), 1330s. Ink, colors and gold on paper. Keir Collection, England (PP 3)

51     Fig. 186
Iskandar Emerging from the Gloom
Image: 21 x 20 cm (8¼ x 7⅞ in.)
Keir Collection, England (PP3)

On another adventure, Iskandar was returning from a visit to the angel of death in the land of darkness when a voice called out from the gloom announcing that whoever picked up a stone from the path would grieve and whoever did not would grieve even more. Puzzled by the cryptic message, some of Iskandar’s men collected stones from the path. On emerging into the light they saw that these were precious stones, and those who had picked up a few regretted not gathering more, while those who had picked up none were even sorrier.
    The right side of the painting has been damaged. Early photographs show a blank space here; this is today filled with part of a text folio, the rest of which is in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin.¹

1. Grabar and Blair 1980, pp. 128-29, no. 36.
Source: pp. 159 & 256, The Legacy of Genghis Khan Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia 1256-1353

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London, Keir Collection
Title of Work: Shahnama (Great Mongol)
Manuscript: X01
Chapter 20 - Iskandar (14 years)
Scene: Iskandar and his troops take stones from the Black Mountain and emerge from the land of darkness
Dimensions (h x w): 210 x 200 mm
Format: Irregular, random within borders
Reconstructed Folio: 174v
Gregorian Date: 1335 (circa)
School: Tabriz
Source: Shahnama Project