"The Angel Surush Rescues Khusrau Parviz from a Cul-de-sac", Folio 708v from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmaspca. 1530–35
Fleeing the rebel general Bahram Chubina, the Sasanian king Khusrau Parviz rides into a narrow mountain pass that turns out to be a dead end. More about this work
About this work
Fleeing the rebel general Bahram Chubina, the Sasanian king Khusrau Parviz rides into a narrow mountain pass that turns out to be a dead end. As his pursuers close in, he prays, and the angel Surush appears, takes his hand and leads him to safety. This moment of divine rescue comes near the end of Ferdowsi’s Shahnama, in its historical section on the Sasanian kings. The page belongs to the copy made for Shah Tahmasp around 1530–35, painted by artists of the royal workshop in Tabriz.
Written by Ochre Editions.
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.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Met has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1970.301.73
- Credit
- Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Type
- Codices
- Department
- Islamic Art
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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