Amir Sheikh Nuz ad-Din Killing a Lion in front of the Emperor Timur
Zafarnama of Ibrahim Sultan, Timurid Shiraz, 1436
(Book of Victories) of Sharaf al-din 'Ali Yazdi (1424-54)

Title: Amir Sheikh Nuz-al-din slays a lion in the presence of Emperor Timur, from the Zafarnameh for Sultan Ibrahim
Artist: Iran, Shiraz (Iranian)
Calligrapher: Ya'qub ibn Hasan (Persian, active 15th century) Date: ca. 1436
Medium: ink and opaque watercolor on paper
Dimensions (H x W x D): 13 7/8 in x 9 1/2 in
Collection Area: Asian Art
Category: Paintings, Islamic Art
Object Type: painting, manuscript leaf
Culture: Iranian, Persian
Credit Line: Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Edwin Binney, 3rd
Accession Number: 75.23.2
Place Made: Created in: Shiraz

Description
This page is from a history of Timur, the infamous warlord who terrorized all of western Asia in a series of raids in the late fourteenth century. Timur's sons and grandsons fostered a cultural renaissance by attracting scientists, writers, and artists to their cities in territories that are today Iran, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan. This page is from a manuscript made for one of Timur's grandsons, Sultan Ibrahim, governor of the Iranian city of Shiraz from 1414 until his death in 1434/5.

The caption relates that when a lion attacked Timur's party, one courageous man galloped straight at the lion and struck it down. The stiffly drawn figures of the hero and his horse span the entire page, pushing the lion into the margins so that it seems to emerge from a hidden cleft in the mountains. Timur, his exalted rank indicated by a red parasol, watches from behind a hillock.

Source: Portland Art Museum