"Mihran Sitad Chooses a Daughter of the Khaqan of Chin", Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi

Mihran Sitad Chooses a Daughter of the Khaqan of Chin

Nushirvan sent wise old Mihran Sitad as his emissary to the khaqan of Chin to choose a princess for a marriage alliance. Only one of the five princesses was the daughter of the queen and so dearly loved by both parents that they wanted to keep her at home. When Mihrad Sitad was led to the bower of the princesses, all but one was crowned, richly dressed, and suitably made up, yet the shrewd old emissary saw through the ruse and chose the most royal princess for his shah.

The scene is presented straightforwardly, with the five princesses seated side by side upon one bench-like throne, taking up two-thirds of the picture and extending to the right margin. All but the middle daughter wear crowns, although she is dressed in a robe with rich floral designs influenced by Chinese art—as are the patterns on the throne’s valance. Behind the figures, in the stepped-up center of the picture, is an arch with tie-back curtains against a white ground. The queen stands beside the throne, with Mihran Sitad next to her in the arch of the doorway; he is shorter than she, to accommodate the lower space, but believable for a stooped old man. Despite its simplicity, the image has considerable charm.

In the Great Ilkhanid Shahnama the episode is very differently presented.[1] Although the most royal princess is again in the middle of the group, she is the most elaborately dressed and coiffed, and all are posed differently. Mihran Sitad and three Chinese courtiers peer at them from behind the grille of a balcony, although how he could see them from there is hard to imagine. An attempt has been made to emulate Chinese architecture. While this is obviously a more complex composition, in quality the Gutman painting holds its own.

Mary Lukens Swietochowsky in [Swietochowsky and Carboni 1994]

Notes:

1. O. Grabar and S. Blair, Epic Images and Contemporary History. The Illustrations of the Great Mongol Shahnama. Chicago and London, 1980, no. 58 (Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 22.392).

Ph. Walter Schulz, Leipzig, Germany (by 1914); Professor O. Moll, Düsseldorf, Germany ; Monroe C. Gutman, New York (by 1929–d. 1974; bequeathed to MMA)

New York. The Hagop Kevorkian Special Exhibitions Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Illustrated Poetry and Epic Images: Persian Painting of the 1330s and 1340s," February 1–May 1, 1994, no. 44.

Schulz, Ph. Walter. Die Persisch-Islamische Miniaturmalerei. Vol. vols. I, II. Leipzig: Hiersemann, 1914. vol. 1, pp. 74–75, ill. vol. 2, pl. 18.

Masuya, Tomoko. "The Condition of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Small Shahnama and the Reconstruction of its Text." In Poetry and Epic Images, edited by Marie Lukens Swietochowski, and Stefano Carboni. New York, 1994. pp. 129–45.

Swietochowski, Marie, Stefano Carboni, Tomoko Masuya, and Alexander H. Morton. Illustrated Poetry and Epic Images : Persian Painting of the 1330s and 1340s. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994. no. 44, pp. 71, 122, ill. p. 122 (color).