This item has been added to the Database within the Explore Islamic Art Collections project. Information is available in: English, Arabic.

Name of Object:

Rustam at the Fort near Mount Sepand (folio from a Shahnama manuscript)

Location:

Kyiv, Ukraine

Holding Museum:

The Khanenko Museum

About The Khanenko Museum, Kyiv

Current Owner:

The Khanenko Museum

Date of Object:

Second half of the AD 15th century

Museum Inventory Number:

451 ГРВ

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Opaque watercolour, gold and ink on paper

Dimensions:

Height: 23.8cm, Width: 14.2cm

Period / Dynasty:

Timurid, Turkmen

Workshop / Movement:

Shiraz school (?)

Provenance:

Shiraz, Iran (?)

Description:

A folio from the manuscript of the Shahnama (Book of Kings) epic poem by Ferdowsi tells the story of Rustam's military campaign to Mount Sepand to destroy the impregnable fortress city. The painting illustrates an episode when Rustam and his army approached the walls of a fortress. The warriors resorted to treachery, pretending to be salt merchants. The fortress guards believed the “merchants” and opened the gates to them. According to the content of the episode, Rustam is portrayed as a merchant, without his traditional attributes of a hero: tiger skin, helmet and weapons. Shabby figures of people, types of their headdresses and Chinese-style clouds may suggest the painter’s affiliation with a Shiraz school of miniature.

How date and origin were established:

Stylistic analysis and inscription reading by V. Krachkovskaya (publication, 1926, origin and date), A. Ivanov (examination, 1966, date specified, school suggested).

How Object was obtained:

Purchased by Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko in Paris, 1914, presumably from Fredrik Robert Martin's collection. Donated by Varvara Khanenko in 1918, nationalised by Bolshevik regime in 1919.

How provenance was established:

Publication of Vera Krachkovskaya (1927). Old Museum Inventory Register (1925-1946).

Selected bibliography:

Grube, E., "The Miniatures of Shiraz", The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 21 (1963): 285-95.
Rudyk, H. (ed), Charisma of Iran. Persian art of 12th–19th centuries from museum collections of Ukraine, Kyiv: The Khanenko Museum, 2017.
Krachkovskaya, V., "Musulmsnskoye iskusstvo v sobranii Khanenko (Muslim Art from the Khanenkos' Collection)", in Bartold V.V. (ed), Zapyski Kollegii Vostokovedov (Notes of the College of Orientalists) at Asian Museum of USSR Academy of Sciences, Vol II, Leningrad: USSR Academy of Sciences, 1927.

Citation of this web page:

Antonina Makarevych, Hanna Rudyk "Rustam at the Fort near Mount Sepand (folio from a Shahnama manuscript)" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;uc;Mus21;9;en

Prepared by: Antonina Makarevych, Hanna Rudyk
Copyedited by: Janice MedinaJanice Medina

Janice Medina is an artist and educator based in Upstate New York. She studied interior design at Syracuse University and obtained her M.S. in Building Conservation in 2008 (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and Master of Fine Arts in 2019 (University at Albany).

Janice is a former participant in the US/ICOMOS International Exchange Program and she has taught courses in the history of design and historic preservation. Her artwork is influenced by her experiences in historic preservation, as well as by building materials and the natural environment.

Janice has participated as a copy-editor with Museum With No Frontiers since 2019. In this role she has had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects including Discover Islamic Art, Discover Baroque Art and Discover Glass Art.

MWNF Working Number: UC1 09