Folio 120v: Rustam's Fourth Course, He Cleaves a Witch

Mehran DHN

The hero Rustam underwent seven tests of valor on his way to rescue Shah Kai Kavus. The artist has illustrated the climax of Rustam’s fourth course when the beautiful maiden who had beguiled him turned back into the witch she really was, to be dispatched by his sword. The sorcerer in the background, raising his hands in horror, has been borrowed from Turkmen artistic sources, while the profile of the sorceress is an exaggerated version of the conventional one for the old retainer or crone. Note the faces of animals and humans incorporated in the rocks, a favorite element of the early paintings of Tahmasp’s Shahnama.