# "The Besotted Iranian Camp Attacked by Night", Folio 241r from the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Shah Tahmasp

**Abu'l Qasim Firdausi** (Iranian, Paj ca. 940/41–1020 Tus)  
ca. 1525–30  
Opaque watercolor, ink, silver, and gold on paper  
Painting: H. 11 1/8 in. (28.2 cm) W. 9 1/8 in. (23.2 cm) Entire Page: H. 18 11/16 in. (47.5 cm) W. 12 5/8 in. (32.1 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1970.301.36. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/452145).

## About this work

Iranian warriors, careless after a night of drinking, are caught in their tents by a surprise attack from their Turanian enemies. The episode belongs to the long wars between Iran and Turan that run through Ferdowsi’s Shahnama, and it is a lesson in the cost of overconfidence. The page comes from the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp, made at the Safavid court in Tabriz in the 1520s and 1530s, whose painters excelled at crowded, many-layered compositions in which tents, horses and fighting figures are fitted into a densely patterned whole.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Abu'l Qasim Firdausi painted this in about 1525–30. 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 19 × 13 in (48 × 32 cm). The 16 × 20 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 15th century
- Subjects: Tents, Battles, Men, Horses
- 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/1233.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1233/1920.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/the-besotted-iranian-camp-attacked-by-night-folio-241r-from-met-452145).