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Tahmineh comes to Rostam
Shahnameh/Timurid: Herat, c.1444 /Patron: Mohammad Juki b. Shah Rokh/Opaque
watercolour, ink and gold on paper/London, Royal Asiatic Society, Persian MS
239, fol. 56v
The scene of Tahmineh visiting Rostam at night with the request to bear his
child is one of the most frequently illustrated episodes in the Shahnameh.
Rostam’s enthusiasm and Tahmineh’s bashfulness make this is one of the most
delightful versions. The exquisite rendering of a princely interior
transports the viewer into the fifteenth century. Tahmineh is no longer
attended by a woman but by a black eunuch, perhaps reflecting a change in
contemporary custom. The depiction of the div shows influence from China or
Central Asia.
This illustration belonged to a copy of the Shahnameh made for Mohammad Juki
b. Shah Rokh, brother of Ebrahim Soltan. Mohammad Juki died before the
manuscript was completed. In the early sixteenth century, it came into the
possession of a later Timurid ruler, Babur, who took it to India when he
founded the Mughal dynasty there.
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