Rustam's dappled horse Rakhsh fends off a lion as he sleeps

Rustam lies asleep on a flowering green hillside, his patterned tunic and leopard-spotted cap catching the light, his bow and quiver hanging from a blossoming tree beside him. Below, his dappled tan horse Rakhsh rears and strikes out with its hooves at a reddish-brown lion lunging up from the undergrowth, teeth bared. Small blue, red and purple flowers dot the grass, and pink blossom covers the tree at the left under a plain blue sky. Persian nasta'liq text fills ruled panels above and below the scene.

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.