The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 13, 2025

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: not on view

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.
  • c. 1910–?
    (Georges Demotte [1877–1923], New York, NY)
    Wells
    before 1943
    Grace Rainey Rogers [1867–1943], New York, NY
    ?–1943
    (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1943–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Watson, Arnold Talbot and Royal Academy of Arts (Great Britain). Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Persian Art; Patrons: His Majesty the King, His Majesty Rizā ShāH Pahlavi. 7th January to 28th February, 1931, Royal Academy of Arts, London. 1st ed. London: Office of the Exhibition [Printed by Gee & Co.], 1931.
    Erdman, Kurt. "La Mostra d'arte Persiana a Londra." Dedalo XI (April 1931). p. 826
    Royal Academy of Arts (Great Britain), Laurence Binyon, Basil Gray, and J. V. S. Wilkinson. Persian Miniature Painting. Including a Critical and Descriptive Catalogue of the Miniatures Exhibited at Burlington House, January-March, 1931. London: Oxford University Press, 1933.
    Dimand, Maurice Sven. A Guide to an Exhibition of Islamic Miniature Painting and Book Illumination. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1933.
    Lorey, E. de. ""L'Ecole de Tabriz." Revue des Arts Asiatiques I (1935).
    Schroeder, Eric. "Ahmed Musa and Shams al-Din: A Review of Fourteenth Century Painting." Ars Islamica VI, pt 2 (1939). 132–133
    Ackerman, Phyllis. Guide to the Exhibition of Persian Art : ... New York, 1940. New York: The Iranian Institute, 1940. 246
    Parke-Bernet Galleries. French XVIII Century Furniture, Paintings, Drawings, Etc., Collection of Grace Rainey Rogers 1943/11/18-20. [N.Y.]: [Parke-Bernet galleries, Inc., auctioneers], 1943. 140
    Dimand, M.S. "An Exhibition of Islamic and Indian Paintings." Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art XIV (Dec. 1955). p. 88
    Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente (Roma). Mostra D'arte Iranica: Catalogo, Palazzo Brancaccio, Roma, Giugno-Agosto 1956 [= Exhibition of Iranian Art : Catalogue, Palazzo Brancaccio, Roma, June-August 1956]. Milano: Silvana editoriale d'arte, 1956.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 720 archive.org
    Persian Art Before And After the Mongol Conquest.: [Exhibition] April 9-May 17, 1959. the University of Michigan, Museum of Art, Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, Museum of Art, 1959. Mentioned: cat. no. 148, p. 43
    Grabar, Oleg and University of Michigan. Persian Art Before and After the Mongol Conquest [Exhibition] April 9-May 17, 1959, the University of Michigan, Museum of Art, Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1959.
    Sept mille ans d'art en Iran: [exposition], Petit Palais, octobre 1961-janvier 1962. Paris: Petit Palais, 1962. 192
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 221 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 221 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 278 archive.org
    Rosenzweig, Daphne Lange. "Stalking the Persian Dragon: Chinese Prototypes for Miniature Representations." Kunst des Orients XII 1/2 (1978-1979). pp. 151–176
    Grabar, Oleg, and Sheila Blair. Epic Images and Contemporary History: The Illustrations of the Great Mongol Shahnama. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1980. pp. 154–155
    Williams, Marjorie. "Dragons, Porcelains and Demons: Cultural Exchange Between China and Persia." Orientations vol. 18 no. 8 (August 1986). p. 86
    Lentz, Thomas W., Glenn D. Lowry, and Gerlach Collection. Timur and the Princely Vision: Persian Art and Culture in the Fifteenth Century. Los Angeles, Washington, DC: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989. p. 53
    Komaroff, Linda, and Stefano Carboni. The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256-1353. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002. pp. 257 and 160
    Komaroff, Linda, and Stefano Carboni, eds. The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256-1353. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press [distributor], 2002. Reproduced: cat no. 56, p. 257, fig. 187, p. 160
    Curatola, Giovanni, and Gianroberto Scarcia. Iran: l'arte persiana. Milano: Jaca Book, 2004. Reproduced: fig.162, pp. 198–199
    Curatola, Giovanni, and Gianroberto Scarcia. Iran: l'arte persiana. Milano: Jaca Book, 2004. pp. 198–199
    Hagedorn, Annette, and Norbert Wolf. Islamic Art. Hong Kong: Taschen, 2009. Reproduced: fig. 16, p. 18
    Hillenbrand, Robert. "Color in the Great Mongol Shahnama." In Manuscripts in the Making: Art & Science. Stella Panayotova and Paola Ricciardi. London; Turnhout: Harvey Miller, 2017. Reproduced: p. 217; ill. 3
    Coffey, Heather. "Collapsing Geography and Orientalizing Pigment in a Fourteenth-Century Chromoshpere: Italian Painting and Ilkhanid Ceramics." In The Seas and the Mobility of Islamic Art. Radha Dalal, Sean E. Roberts, and Jochen A. Sokoly eds., 38–53. Biennial Hamad bin Khalifa Symposium on Islamic Art and Culture, 2021. New Haven: Yale University Press; [Ar-Rayyan, Qatar]: in association with Qatar Foundation; [Richmond, Virginia]: Virginia Commonwealth University; [Education City, Doha, Qatar]: and Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 47, fig. 2.5
    Hillenbrand, Robert. The Great Mongol Shahnama. London, Washington, DC, New Haven, CT: Hali Publications Ltd.; Freer Gallery of Art: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art; Published in association with Yale University Press, 2022. Mentioned and Reproduced: painting 49
  • An Epic of Kings: The Great Mongol Shahnama. National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (September 21, 2024-January 12, 2025) https://asia.si.edu/whats-on/exhibitions/mongol-shahnama/.
    Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 116). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 30, 2018–January 4, 2019).
    Islamic art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 16, 2013-December 15, 2014).
    The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia 1256-1353. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (October 28, 2002-February 16, 2003); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (April 13-July 27, 2003).
    Persian Miniature Manuscripts. The Scottish Arts Council Gallery, Edinburgh, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (August 13-September 11, 1977).
    Imperial Images in Persian Painting. The Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh, Scotland (August 13-September 11, 1977).
    The Classical Style in Islamic Painting. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (November 1, 1968-January 4, 1969).
    Muslim Miniature Paintings from American Collections. Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, Italy; Asia House, New York, NY (September 1962-February 1963).
    7000 Ans d'art en Iran. Petit Palais, Paris, France (October-November 1961).
    Islamic Art Exhibition. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (April 9-May 17, 1959).
    Exhibition of Persian Art. Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, Rome, Italy (May-October 1956).
    Islamic and Indian Miniature Paintings and Manuscripts. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (December 15, 1955-February 19, 1956).
    Persian Art. Iranian Institute, New York, NY (1940).
    Islamic Miniature Painting and Book Illumination. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (October 9, 1933-January 7, 1934).
    International Exhibition of Persian Art. Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (January 7-February 28, 1931).
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https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1943.658.b