This double-sided folio manuscript of Firdausi’s Shahnama (‘The Book of Kings’), most of which is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. It is signed by the artist, Mu’in Mussavir, one of the most celebrated and prolific Persian artists of his time. Mu’in worked in the courts of both Shah Safi (r.1629-42) and Shah Abbas II (r.1642-66). The verso depicts the third trial of Rustam, where he slays a dragon. The rendering of the dragon and the detail of Rustam’s tiger-skin cloak and snow-leopard cap are particularly fine. The dragon is an important iconographic symbol which appears in Islamic as well as Chinese art. This particular orange-red dragon exhibits strong Chinese features. The recto shows the fourth trial of Rustam, where he encounters the witch Ahriman by a stream, disguised as a moon-faced girl. When Rustam realizes her deception, he lassoes her whereupon she transforms into a wrinkled hag.
