Alexander Lassoing the Russian King
Series TitleBook of the Khamsa of Nizami
CulturePersian
Date1490-1491
MediumWatercolor, ink, and gold on paper
DimensionsImage: 5 1/2 × 4 inches (13.97 × 10.16 cm)
Sheet: 10 3/4 × 6 1/2 inches (27.31 × 16.51 cm)
Sheet: 10 3/4 × 6 1/2 inches (27.31 × 16.51 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number47-44/2 A
On View
On viewGallery Location
- 222
Collections
Exhibition HistoryIslamic Painting from American Collections, Syracuse University, The School of Art and The Department of Religion, Syracuse, New York, April 6-26, 1967, hors cat.
Sages and Heroes: Storytelling in Asian Art, The
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, April 12, 2025–November 30, 2025,
no cat.
Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi (died 1209) wrote Book of
Iskandar, a narrative poem about Iskandar (Alexander
the Great) focusing on his characteristics as an ideal
ruler. This illustration emphasizes Iskandar’s strength,
rather than his brilliance. Mounted on horseback,
a victorious Iskandar twists back to look at Kantal
(Qantal), king of Russia, who he has captured in his
lasso. The flattened landscape with sparse vegetation is a
common setting for Persian paintings of battle scenes.
With Persian Antique Gallery, New York, by 1947;
Purchased from Persian Antique Gallery by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1947.
Lois Katz, “A Persian Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century,” in The Brooklyn Museum Annual 5 (1963-1964): 44-45.
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early 15th century
49-48
