The Shah Isma’il IIShahnameh
Isfandiyar Kills the Simurgh
Folio detached from the Shah Isma’il II Shahnameh
Attributed to Siyavush (d. before 1616)
Iran, Qazvin, 1576–1577
Opaque watercolour, gold, silver, and ink on paper
AKM103
Like the hero Rustam, the prince and warrior Isfandiyar undergoes his own set of seven trials in the Shahnameh. In his fifth trial, Isfandiyar must kill the powerful, phoenix-like simurgh and its two ferocious offspring. Isfandiyar approaches the beast in a tank-like contraption fitted with blades. As the bird swoops down to attack, it impales itself on the warrior’s vehicle. The simurgh’s brilliant, multicolour plumage blazes across the page, its flame-like forms echoed in both the clouds that drift across the night sky and the orange-tinged leaves rustling in the wind. Animation helps us see, today, how the illustration may have originally seemed to pulse with life when viewed by flickering candlelight.