Rustam captures the horse Rakhsh

This extraordinary marbled painting is one of only a few such pages known in the world. The National Museum’s folio is perhaps the rarest as it the only one that is signed by the artist, Shafi.

The art of marbling originated either in Turkey or in Persia and then reached the Deccani courts. Marbling is done by floating colours on water and using paper to pick up the swirling patterns. In most cases, entire sheets of paper were marbled, and were used as background or borders for calligraphy. Marbled paintings such as this one were the result of an especially complex process. The artist applied a resistant gum to the areas that were not to be marbled; afterwards, this was scraped away and details were added by brush. Marbling is also known as ‘cloud art’ and called ebru in Turkey, abri in Persia and abar in India from the root word ‘abr’ meaning ‘cloud.’

This marbled painting depicts an incident from the Shahnama, in which Rustam captures the horse Rakhsh. The Shahnama or The Book of Kings is a Persian epic composed by Firdausi in the 10th century as a record of the pre-Islamic history of Iran. The commissioning of painted manuscripts of the Shahnama was one way for Muslim rulers in Iran, Turkey or India to align themselves with this heroic past.

The great hero Rustam occupies an important part in the narrative of the Shahnama. He demonstrates an ideal code of conduct through his absolute loyalty to the his monarch. On the other hand, he is greater than the ruler he serves and his character moves beyond the mundane into the realm of the supra-human.

This illustration relates to Rustam’s early years. When Rustam grew up and his heroic qualities became apparent, his father Zal promised to help him find a good horse that would serve him well in the battlefield. He was allowed his pick of any horse from the herds that roamed Zabolestan and Kabolestan. Rustam chose a powerful horse had eluded all previous attempts to capture it. But the young hero ensnared the horse with a lasso, and easily climbed on its back. Rustom named his horse ‘Rakhsh,’ meaning ‘lighting.’

In the foreground of this composition, a herd of beautifully-coloured horses runs away from Rustom who wields his lasso at bottom left. In the middle ground, a mare and two foals graze unconcernedly, watched over by a bearded guardian. Cows roam, and a pair of deer leap in the background while two birds nestle in a tree. All the figures are delicately outlined in gold.

There is a very similar painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art (Acc. No. 2013.286); but while the National Museum painting bears the signature of the artist, Shafi, the Cleveland page is unsigned.