# "Bahram Gur Hunting with Azada", Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings)

**Abu'l Qasim Firdausi** (Iranian, Paj ca. 940/41–1020 Tus)  
dated 753 AH/1352 CE  
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper  
Painting: H. 3 3/16 in. (8.1 cm) W. 6 in. (15.2 cm) Page: H. 11 1/2 in. (29.2 cm) W. 8 5/16 in. (21.1 cm) Mat: H. 19 1/4 in. (48.9 cm) W. 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 57.51.32. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/451411).

## About this work

The Sasanian king Bahram Gur rides out on a camel with his harpist Azada, who dares him to prove his skill: turn a male gazelle into a female and a female into a male, and pin a gazelle’s hoof to its ear. He does all three with his arrows, but when she calls the feat demonic he throws her down and tramples her beneath the camel. The episode, from Ferdowsi’s Shahnama, was a favourite with Persian painters because it combines a hunt, a royal display of skill and a moral sting. This page comes from a manuscript of the epic dated 1352.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Abu'l Qasim Firdausi painted this (dated 753 AH/1352 CE). It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Opaque watercolour.** Watercolour made opaque with white or chalk and laid in flat, even layers. Persian and Indian painters ground their colours from minerals, applied them with the finest brushes and burnished the finished page.
- **Watercolour.** Pigment in gum arabic, thinned with water and laid in transparent washes. Nothing white is painted: the light is the paper showing through.
- **Ink on paper.** Ink made from soot and animal glue, ground with water on an inkstone. A single brush can give a hair-fine line or a broad wash, and nothing can be corrected.

### [Abu'l Qasim Firdausi](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/abu-l-qasim-firdausi)

Iranian, Paj ca. 940/41–1020 Tus

## Facts

- Type: Codices
- Real size: about 3 × 6 in (8 × 15 cm). The original is small: even the 8 × 10 in print shows it larger than life.
- Century: 14th century
- Subjects: Men, Hunting, Camels
- Colour: olive
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1225.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1225/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/bahram-gur-hunting-with-azada-folio-from-a-shahnama-book-of-met-451411).