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3235
AN ILLUSTRATION FROM A SHAHNAMA SERIES:
ARDASHIR RECOGNISES HIS SON SHAPUR AT A POLO GAME
SHIRAZ, CIRCA 1560
Opaque watercolor heightened with gold and silver on paper.
Image: 12 x 7 5/8 in. (30.5 x 19.8 cm);
Folio: 16 3/4 x 10 3/8 in. (42.5 x 26.5 cm);
Verso Text Area: 10 x 5 7/8 in. (25.5 x 15 cm)

$80,000 - 120,000

King Ardashir, founder of the Sassanian Empire (r.224-242), observes a polo game
flanked by his court officials. He sits on a gold saddle, wearing teal trousers and an
orange tunic, and his horse protrudes ahead of the crowd. Musicians support the
festivities from the other side. The artist captures the moment Ardashir, impressed by a
youth’s ability and prowess, questions his identity and discovers him to be his own son
Shapur, born and raised in secrecy.

This folio belongs to a copy of the Shahnama of Firdausi produced at for the Safavid
court at the peak of Shiraz tradition of manuscript illumination. The artist exhibits his
dexterity through the treatment of the architecture and garden: a juxtaposition of various
geometric and figurative forms each rendered with meticulous articulation. He offers a
peek into the landscape beyond the walls through the door ajar on the center-left of the
composition, highlighting his effort to create a perspectival image. The pink blooming
flowers and trees in the green garden beyond the wall showcase an attention to detail
expected at the Safavid court. The text is written among the trees in fine nasta’liq against
a gold background, separated in columns by blue bands decorated with gold flowers on
tendrils. The marginalia of the illustrated recto show flower motifs and mythical animals,
like a simurgh above, rendered in gold on the cream-colored surface. On the leaf’s
reverse side, the text of the Shahnama is written in four columns in nasta’liq script. The
twenty-five lines in the inter-columnar illumination are framed by gold bands, blue and
orange lines, and black rules.

The Harvard Art Museum holds five illustrated leaves from this important Shahnama
manuscript, including half of the frontispiece (acc.#2002.50.34-38). The Los Angeles
County Museum of Art holds an additional six leaves (acc.#M.73.5.413, M.75.24,
M.85.237.71, M.89.55, M.2006.114 & M.2009.44.4). The British Museum has one
(acc.#2006,0420,0.1). Two further leaves were sold by Simon Ray, Indian & Islamic
Works of Art, London, 2007, no.13 and Carlton Rochell, Classical Indian Paintings, New
York, p.11, no.1

The background to this scene is not without some intrigue. After defeating the last
Parthian king Ardawan, and laying the foundations of his own dynasty, Ardashir marries
Ardawan’s daughter, Sura. She plots to poison him before her plan is foiled and she
is sentenced to death along with her unborn child. Ardashir’s vizier, however, takes
kindness on her, concealing her in safety. Seven years later, Ardashir keeps lamenting
about the continuance of his line, and the vizier deems enough time has elapsed that
he can now mention the son the king has had by Sura all the while. After a brief bout
of skepticism, where Ardashir accuses his vizier of being the father instead, prompting
the latter to reveal his testicles – cut, salted, dated, and preserved in the royal treasury
precisely for the occasion – Ardashir announces cause for celebration with a polo game.
There, with bated breath he hopes to correctly identify his progeny, who naturally displays
prowess for the game. Ardashir is overjoyed, he pardons Sura, he rewards his vizier
richly, and he founds the city of Jondeshapur in his son’s name.

Published
Simon Ray Ltd, Indian & Islamic Art, London, 2009, no.13.

Provenance
Spink & Son Ltd, London
Private Japanese Collection
Simon Ray Ltd, London, 10 February 2009

108 | BONHAMS