Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art

About this Work

It is likely that this is a Mughal portrait of the poet Firdawsi. This single page painting may have accompanied a copy of Firdawsi's Shahname. The seated man depicted in the work probably represents Firdawsi, the author of the Shahname (Book of Kings). He is shown with a book, a pen case, and an ink well. He points to the book all while his own image is aligned with couplets from the Shahname embedded in the illuminated frame. The excessive use of gold in the margins as well as in the sky and particularly the gold pen case may be referencing his skill as a poet.

This painting most likely dates from the late 16th to early 17th century as its style closely resembles other Mughal paintings of the period (particularly produced in Ahmadabad). Such paintings still carry on the earlier Persio-Mughal style that emerged in part as a result of Humayun's (r. 1530-40 and 1555-1556) return from exile in Shah Tahmasp's (r. 1524-76) court in Safavid Iran in 1544.