'Timur before Battle at Gortin in Georgia'
Zafarnama of Ibrahim Sultan, Timurid Shiraz, 1436
(Book of Victories) of Sharaf al-din 'Ali Yazdi (1424-54)

"Timur before Battle", Folio from a Dispersed Copy of the Zafarnama (Book of Victories) of Sharaf al-din 'Ali Yazdi
Author: Sharaf al-din 'Ali Yazdi ([active] 1424–54)
Calligrapher: Ya'qub ibn Hasan, known as Siraj al-Husaini
Object Name: Folio from an illustrated manuscript
Date: A.H. 839/A.D. 1436
Geography: Attributed to Iran
Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, silver, and gold on paper
Dimensions: 11 1/2 x 8in. (29.2 x 20.3cm)
Accession Number: 55.121.16
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

This folio once illustrated a manuscript of the Zafarnama, a biography of the ruler Timur commissioned by his grandson Ibrahim Sultan (1394–1435). The painting, from a manuscript completed a year after Ibrahim Sultan’s death, depicts the arrival of the Timurid army before the castle of Gortin in Georgia on Friday, 14th of Muharram, 806 A.H. (August 3, 1403 A.D.). This date, which appears on the other side of the folio, has made it possible for scholars to identify the scene.