'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.

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Details
Title: Zafarnama of Ibrahim Sultan (NY, Met. 55.121.16)
Alternate transliteration Titles: Zafar-Nama, Zafarnameh, Zafername
Alternate Title: Zafarnama-yi Timuri
Translated Title: Book of Victory
Translated Title: Book of Conquest
Alternate Title: Zafar-nama of Sharaf al-Din 'Ali Yazdi
Author / Creator: Sharaf al-Din Ali Yazdi, d. 1454/858 AH [author] Ya'qub ibn Hasan [calligrapher]
Publication info: Place of production: Shiraz, Shiraz, Ostan-e Fars, Iran
Culture: Islamic / Iranian
Form / genre: manuscripts
Style / period: Timurid / Persian
Associated Name: Ibrahim-Sultan ibn Shahrukh, d. 1435, Iranian [patron]
                              Timur, r. 1370-1405/771-807 AH [subject]
Creation Date: June-July 1436/Dhu al-Hijja 839 AH
Repository: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York, United States 55.121.16
Source: Hollis images, Harvard Library