Artwork story
About "Kai Khusrau, Gudarz and Giv Capturing the Demon's Fortress, Bahman (?)", Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings)
The artist and artwork
This folio was painted around 1430–40 for an illustrated Shahnama, or Book of Kings, attributed to India. The Met lists Iranian poet Abu'l Qasim Firdausi as the author, not the painter; the object record names no painter. A Met catalogue conventionally calls the manuscript's leading hand the Master of the Jainesque Shahnama, active in western India, probably Malwa. In ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper, that maker compressed a siege into a square image less than eight inches wide.
The world around it
Firdausi completed the Shahnama around 1010, gathering Iran's legendary and historical kings into a vast Persian epic. Four centuries later, this copy placed that literary tradition inside Sultanate India. The Met describes a Muslim patron, probably a regional ruler, commissioning a local artist trained in western Indian Jain and Hindu manuscript painting. Imported Iranian books supplied models for armored soldiers, caparisoned horses, rocky landscapes, and cloud-edged skies; local traditions shaped the flattened space, stylized forms, and emphatic color. Their combination records cultural exchange.
A detail to notice
The title retains a question mark, so the scene's identification remains a scholarly proposal. King Kai Kavus promised a share of his throne to whoever captured Bahman, an impregnable fortress in Azerbaijan. Tus and Fariburz failed when terrible heat forced them back. Kai Khusrau then told the defenders he came in God's name and that God would defeat any demons inside. A thunderous crack followed and the walls disintegrated. The painter turns that breach into commotion. Mounted archers and shield-bearing soldiers climb the rocky field; defenders crowd the pink battlements, stones fly from above, and the black gateway waits at lower right. The page once belonged to a codex of about 350 pages with sixty-six illustrations. Its paintings were later cut out and mounted in an album.
Look closer: materials, scale, and subjects
The recorded object is folio from an illustrated manuscript made in Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper and held in the Islamic Art department.
Recorded dimensions include H. 7 5/8 in. (19.4 cm); W. 7 3/4 in. (19.7 cm).
Subject terms include Fortification, Soldiers, Swords, Men, and Horses. Treat them as guideposts, not a complete interpretation.
Collection history and public-domain source
The collection credit line is The Grinnell Collection, Bequest of William Milne Grinnell, 1920.
The individual artwork page and official image were verified as Public Domain on 2026-08-23.
No Context Gallery independently uses the public-domain image. The source museum has not endorsed, sponsored, or affiliated itself with these products.
Research sources
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