Skip to Main Content

Bahram Gur Slays a Dragon (verso), from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (940-1019 or 1025), known as the Great Mongol Shahnama

1330–35
(1256-1353)
opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper
Sheet: 45.8 x 34.4 cm (18 1/16 x 13 9/16 in.); Image: 19.5 x 29.5 cm (7 11/16 x 11 5/8 in.)
Grace Rainey Rogers Fund 1943.658.b
Location: On view at National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC, Sep 21, 2024 - Jan 12, 2025
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.

Download, Print and Share

Did You Know?

The monumental Great Mongol Shahnama was commissioned by a ruler of the Ilkhanid dynasty, which governed the southwestern part of the Mongol Empire.

Description

In this intense painting, Bahram Gur plunges his sword into the breast of a dragon. A favorite character from Iran's pre-Islamic history, Bahram Gur (reigned 420–38 CE) was a popular ruler of the Sasanian dynasty and a great hunter. He took the name "Gur," meaning onager (a wild ass), because it was his preferred game, although he also excelled at killing dragons.

As evidenced by this illustration's rock formations, tree trunk, and dragon, Iranian painting in the Mongol period borrowed numerous stylistic and spatial elements from Chinese models. With the surging landscape and writhing dragon rendered with equal energy, this is a picture of extraordinary unity and concentration.
Bahram Gur Slays a Dragon (verso), from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (940-1019 or 1025), known as the Great Mongol Shahnama

Bahram Gur Slays a Dragon (verso), from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (940-1019 or 1025), known as the Great Mongol Shahnama

1330–35

Iran, Tabriz, Ilkhanid period (1256-1353)

See Also

Visually Similar by AI

    Contact us

    The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

    To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

    All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.