A LACQUERED-PAPIER-MACHE PANEL, Persia, Qajar period, 19th century

Depicting on the recto a narrative scene likely derived from the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), identifiable as the beheading of Afrasiyab by Kay Khusraw, the emblematic figures of Turan and Iran respectively, in the presence of Rustam, the foremost hero of the Persian epic tradition. Set beside a watercourse within a stylised landscape, the composition draws upon a Persian iconographic repertoire, with references to the stylistic conventions and compositional schemes developed in the Safavid ateliers of the sixteenth century and subsequently reinterpreted during the Qajar period. The reverse depicts a male figure in noble attire with a large feathered turban, holding a small bird in his hand.