Firdawsi's "Shahnama": Rustam Dragging the Khaqan of China from His Elephant

This is a single page from a well-known manuscript produced for Qivam al-Dawla wa al-Din Hasan, the chief vizier of Fars province in southern Iran. Although the dynasty he served, known as the Injuids, ruled their southern kingdom for only a brief period in the first half of the fourteenth century, a remarkable number of illustrated manuscripts survive from that time. Of the four extant copies of the Shahnama from Injuid Shiraz, only this one has a dedication.