Exchange: The Birth of Rustam, from the Shahnama of Firdausi

54 Items in this Learning Collection

Bowl Fragment with Figural Designs

This fragment of a Mongol Islamic bowl comes from 14th century Iran. The side design features a kneeling person with a bottle, while the side panels have leopards and floral decoration. <br />
Colors included are cobalt, turquoise, green, and dark geen-gray on a cream-tan ground. The fragment is about one-third of the original bowl.<br /><br /><br /><br />

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Mina'i ware bowl fragment with confronting equestrian figures

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Mina'i ware bowl fragment with figures

This Mina'i ware bowl fragment displays well preserved base decorations. Five figures, two birds, a tree and a rim of Kufic insciptions float on the interior, while the exterior exhibits alternating red and cobalt symbols. The bowl is made with a pink-tan paste and a glossy all-over glaze. Ivory, red, cobalt, turquoise, black, pink and brown paints are used to create vibrant imagery.

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Tile fragment with inscription

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Tile fragment with inscription, Molded calligraphy in depressed band in the tile, glazed in bluish-turquoise, slight incrustation and iridescence.

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Plate fragment with design of a white gazelle against a blue ground

This plate has a central gazelle motif in white against a blue background. The paste is a light tan "Islamic II" while the glaze is glossy with wide crackle. The plate was fired upright. It is composed of a now faded cobalt color on a light green-white ground and is iridescent. The plate is attributed to the Safavid period in Iran.

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Floor-table Tile Fragment

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Qur’an manuscript leaf in Abbasid Kufic script

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Square tile with stylized tulip design

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Star-shaped tile with phoenix among clouds

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Faceted bottle

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Shallow bowl with stylized floral medallion

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Qur'an manuscript leaf, illuminated section heading in thuluth script

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Incense burner lid with peacock-shaped finial

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Casket with inscription in floriated Kufic script

This inlaid bronze casket with Kufic inscription was masterfully produced in the 12th century Seljuk period. Possibly of Syrian origin, the lid is hammered from a flat sheet of brass with the bottom formed by folding and joining a section cut from a flat sheet. The seams are on three sides of the base and in the rear under the right-hand hinge. Brass hinges on the object are attached by copper rivets. Originally, the object would have a handle and front clasp which are now missing. <br /><br />

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Digambara Jain manuscript page: Jina and devotees

Multi-colored ink on paper. Reds and golds make up the primary focus colors and are accented by dark blues. Features five figures, two larger figures on the top half of the page and three smaller figures on the bottom. Scene of worship.

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The Birth of Rustam, from the Shahnama of Firdausi

This painted miniature Shahnama page was made by the Shiraz and Timurid schools, ca. 1460 in Baghdad, Iraq. The painting is done in ink, opaque watercolor and gold leaf on paper. The scene depicts the <em>Birth of Rustam </em>from the Shahnama, the Persian book of kings.

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Faucet with Peacock Spigot and Lion-Headed Spout

This large bronze faucet features a peacock spigot and a lion-headed spout.

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Lamp

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Mirror with scene of "Alexander's Ascension"

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Persian poetry anthology manuscript page

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Plate

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Star-shaped tile with molded floral design

This star-shaped ceramic tile is decorated with floral patterns and shapes. This kind of tile seems to be very popular in the 15th and 16th centuries of the Iranian Islamic world. The relief decoration is moulded and unglazed while the ground is glazed in blues with black underglaze and covered with a clear overglaze.

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Jug, narrow neck, single handle, band of decorative inscriptions at shoulder

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The unglazed jug has a bulbous body with a narrow neck which is half the height of the body. A slight bulging occurs midway up the neck. A handle is joined to the neck below the lip and extends to the shoulder of the body. <br /><br />
A <em>Naskhi</em> Arabic inscription, worked in barbotine technique against a background of unordered small bosses and open circles, runs around the upper part of the body. <br />

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Plate

The dish belongs to a large group of sgraffiato wares, examples of which have been found from Afghanistan to northwest Iran. They are characterized by an incised design cut into a slip and enhanced with glazes of different colors, frequently yellow and green. In this particular case, and others like it, the concentric scratched lines are clearly determined by compass while the filler patterns are somewhat less controlled. The pigment is not applied to coincide with the engraved line but rather forms an independant web of color over it.<br />

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Bowl with calligraphic inscriptions and floral designs

This Kashan style bowl from the Seljuk period in Iran features eight brown interior bands. The cobalt blue bands have white inscriptions in Naskhi-style calligraphy radiating from the center to the lip of the bowl. The exterior contains delicate floral stalk decorations. The presence of excrescences on the interior may determine that this bowl was used for waste.<br />

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Bowl with Bird and Flower Designs

"Object EFS-105 is a 14th century Mongolian-influenced Sultanabad work. The body of the object is a pinkish-tan while the outside is covered with painted blue tinge. The central motif is a spotted lion [leopard]. Stylized birds circle the inside of the object against a naturalistically conceived floral area. The object has been re-pieced extensively. <br /><br />
This object bears the characteristic hemispherical shape of Sultanabad work, and its rendering of the birds and floral motif indicate the Chinese influence of the 14th century. The animal and birds are outlined in black. It follows the general color scheme and motifs of the Sultanabad wares of the 14th century. <br /><br />
The object is 4 inches high and has a diameter of 8 inches. The lion [leopard] is rendered with the Iranian sensitivity and perceptiveness. This object was probably highlighted with white slip."

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Medicinal plants; Leaf from an Arabic translation of the "De Materia Medica," by Dioscorides

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Khusrau brought before his father Hurmuzd; from the Khamza of Nizami

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Plaque with Kufic Inscription, from the Tower of Toghril, from Rayy

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Qur’an manuscript leaf in Maghribi script

Arabic calligraphic script on paper; script is in Maghribi style, written in black ink with touches of green and rec ochre. Shadows of script (from reverse or opposite page, transferred while closed?) show through. Beige paper is browned with age at edges; upper left has repaired tear.

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Star-shaped Tile with flying crane among flowers

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This Ilkhanid eight-pointed star tile employs the Kashan style that originates in Iran. A crane/phoenix-type bird flies amongst floral decorations. The outer perimeter is decorated with a cursive script. The script may either be Qur'anic verse (Arabic) or a Shahnama verse (Persian book of Kings). (updated)

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Tray

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Peacock

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Ewer with animal head, with band of decorative inscriptions at shoulder in thuluth script on an arabesque ground

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Candlestick with decoration of the Labors of the Months

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Textile fragment

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Footed Bowl with painted design of birds

This footed bowl with painted designs is of 11th-13th century Iranian origin. The object stands upon a broad pierced foot, with a stem extending upwards supporting a shallow dish. It is done in brown, green and gold. The decoration consists of a number of birds compartmentalized by a gold background that serves to set off their shapes and creates a free-form design. Sgraffito cuts through the slip on glaze to a layer of brown that creates part of the form of the bird or its decoration. All of this is set against green cross-hatched areas. <br /><br />

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Shallow bowl with schematized animal motif

This large Iranian plate sits on a small base. The decoration consists of a bird and crude space fillers. The units are outlined in green and incised, in addition to green glazed parts that are not incised. The design is cut through the slip and appears light brown while the exterior is left unglazed and plain red-brown.The plate is mended and appears to have commercial mosaic in parts. The colors are green, light green, yellow, and red-brown. Painted green and brown spots and stripes are combined with scribbled engraving to form often asymmetrical designs.

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Tile with molded lion

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Albarello (Pharmacy Jar)

A 14th century Mongol period pharmacy jar from the Sultanabad region. The albarello is a contracted cylinder with a converging neck and has a conventionalized inscription with a stag and gazelle design. Floral designs fill the space while the lower body is fluted. All the decorative patterns were done in low relief. Paste is a light tan "Islamic II", while the glaze is glossy with fine crackle. The object was fired upright. Colors include heavy iridescent patina, gray-green, light grayish-white ground and light purplish gray. The object has been restored.

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Circular mortar with inscription

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Lid with Handle

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Seated figure with tripartite crown

The moulded head of the terracotta figurine represents a royal personnage. He wears a three-lobed crown, spherical earrings, and a necklace. He is seated with his legs bent from the hips at right angles to the upper part of the body. The legs are crossed and thus form a circular base which allows the essentially two-dimensional figure to remain erect. The assembling of the limbs was apparently done after the figurine had been cast.

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Tile

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Star-shaped tile with vegetal arabesque pattern

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Qur'an manuscript leaf in early or Abbasid Kufic script, ch. 38, verses 21-23

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Qur'an manuscript leaf in thuluth and naskh script, chapter 4, verses 480–90

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Flask with molded decor

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Star-shaped tile with floral and calligraphic patterns

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Bowl with concentric bands of epigraphic decoration

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Leaf from a manuscript of the Qur’an in Maghribi script

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Illuminated Leaf

Illuminated manuscript page with Arabic calligraphy that is framed by floriated,<br />
cloud-band borders, stylized cartouches, and marginal vignettes.

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Qur'an manuscript leaf in thuluth and naskh script, chapters 83–85 (recto and verso)

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Copyright

The Birth of Rustam, from the Shahnama of Firdausi

Accession Number
1963/1.43

Title
The Birth of Rustam, from the Shahnama of Firdausi

Artist(s)
Iranian

Artist Nationality
Iranian

Object Creation Date
circa 1460

Medium & Support
ink, opaque watercolor, and gold leaf on paper

Dimensions
10 7/16 in. x 7 3/16 in. ( 26.5 cm x 18.2 cm )

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Label copy
Rustam is one of the most beloved figures in the Shahnama. Like his grandfather Sam and father Zal before him, he embodies superhuman strength, courage, and endurance, as well as complete loyalty to the shah.
Rustam’s first appearance in the tale is at the moment of his birth, by Caesarian section. The artist unflinchingly depicts the operation, with Rustam half-emerged from his mother Rudaba’s side. The accompanying text reads:
“Why hast thou grown so wan?”
Rudaba answered:
“By night and day I cry for help. I lie
Sleepless and withered like a living corpse.
My time hath come but not deliverance.” …
There came an archimage,* one deft of hand,
Who made the moon-faced dame bemused with wine,
Then pierced her side while she was all unconscious,
And having turned the infant’s head aright
Delivered her uninjured. None had seen
A thing so strange. The babe was like a lion,
A hero tall and fair to look upon.
A day and night the mother lay asleep,
Bemused, unconscious. They the while sewed up
The wound and eased the anguish with the dressing. … Then they brought the babe
To her, extolling him as heavenly.
Warner, I, 320–22
* archimage: a great magi, i.e. a Zoroastrian priest, magician, or physician
———
Maribeth Graybill, Senior Curator of Asian Art
Exhibited in "A Medieval Masterpiece from Baghdad: the Ann Arbor Shahnama"
August 14 through December 19, 2004

Subject matter
The Birth of Rustam

"Why hast thou grown so wan?"
Rudaba answered:
"By night and day I cry for help. I lie
Sleepless and withered like a living corpse.
My time hath come but not deliverance."

There came an archimage, one deft of hand,
Who made the moon-faced damee bemused with wine,
Then pierced her side while she was all unconsious,
And having turned the infant's head aright
Delivered her uninjured. None had seen
A thing so strange. The babe was like a lion,
A hero tall and fair to look upon.

A day and night the mother lay asleep,
Bemused, unconscious. They the while sewed up
The wound and eased the anguish with the dressing.

Then they brought the babe
To her, extolling him as heavenly.

Physical Description
This painted miniature Shahnama page was made by the Shiraz and Timurid schools, ca. 1460 in Baghdad, Iraq. The painting is done in ink, opaque watercolor and gold leaf on paper. The scene depicts the Birth of Rustam from the Shahnama, the Persian book of kings.

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Collection Area
Western

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form. Keywords
Iranian Islamic painting styles after the Mongols
Iranian Islamic styles after the Mongols
Persian-Farsi (language)
Shahnama
Timurid
Timurid painting styles
gold leaf
gouache (paint)
man
miniatures (paintings)
shahs
watercolor painting (technique)