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This lot is offered without reserve.

THE COLLECTION OF PAUL RICHARD LOEWI (1879-1939) AND HIS DAUGHTER ERICA (1918-1996)

RUSTAM KICKS ASIDE A BOULDER

TIMURID SHIRAZ, IRAN, CIRCA 1440-50

Details

RUSTAM KICKS ASIDE A BOULDER
TIMURID SHIRAZ, IRAN, CIRCA 1440-50
Illustration from the Shahnama of Firdausi, opaque pigments heightened with gold, one column of black nasta'liq above and four below, the verso with four columns of black nasta'liq with squares of diagonal text with gold floral sprays either side, two chapter headings of gold nasta'liq in clouds against a gold hatched ground, within silver and blue rules
Painting 4 5⁄8 x 4 1⁄2in. (11.9 x 11.4cm.); text panel 7 3⁄8 x 4 3⁄4in. (18.6 x 12.3cm.); folio 11 3⁄8 x 7 1⁄2in. (28.8 x 19.3cm.)

Literature

R. Hillenbrand, Imperial Images in Persian Painting, Exhibition catalogue, Edinburgh, 1977, p.93, no.205.

Special notice

This lot is offered without reserve.

Brought to you by

Barney Bartlett Junior Specialist

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Lot Essay

Ordered by his father Isfandiyar to bring Rustam to him in chains, Bahman spies the great hero of Iran from atop a mountain. Fearful of Rustam’s strength and wishing to avoid confronting him in direct combat, Bahman dislodges a boulder and hurls it down the mountainside at the unsuspecting hero. Despite the concerned shouts of his brothers, Rustam does not move from roasting his onager and instead sticks out a leg to calmly brush the oncoming missile aside.
In contrast to the majority of the preceding and following lots attributed to Safavid Shiraz, this painting is a very good example of the Shiraz school of circa 1440. The landscape and facial features - into which the artist has clearly taken gret care painting - are much more Turkic in feel than later Safavid work.

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