A bound captive hangs between two posts before a crowned elder

A bare-chested captive, balding with long hair falling to his chest, hangs bound by ropes between two tall wooden posts, his feet off the ground. At the left an elderly bearded man in a gold crown and gold robe sits on a spotted brown-and-white horse; a man in a pointed gold helmet and green tunic reaches toward the captive, and a man in a purple robe and pink turban holds the ropes as a young man in orange watches from behind. Trees and pink rocks rise beyond.

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.