A warrior discovers a young prince tending blossoms in a garden

A young figure in a white turban and blue-grey robe touches the blossoms of a flowering tree, framed by pale rocks and evergreens against a violet night sky with pale cloud. At the lower right a bearded warrior in a gold helmet and red cape approaches, a bow and quiver on his back, a plumed bull-headed mace over his shoulder, and a white horse behind him. Pink and white blossoms grow among the rocks. The painting sits within a page of nasta'liq verse from the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp.

The Shahnama, or Book of Kings, is the Persian national epic: a verse history of Iran from its first kings to the Arab conquest, completed around 1010 by the poet Firdausi of Tus (c. 940–1020). Its illustrations were painted in later centuries for the rulers and patrons who commissioned copies. Illustrated manuscripts survive from the Ilkhanid period onward, from the First Small Shahnama of the early fourteenth century to Shah Tahmasp's great copy made in Tabriz, and later volumes from Qazvin, Herat and Bijapur in the Deccan. Leaves from these dispersed manuscripts are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Printed as a museum-grade giclée on Hahnemühle fine art paper using 12-ink archival pigment printing. Available handframed in FSC-certified wood with optional float glass, or unframed. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.