Great Jalayirid Shahnameh

[3] Despite their influence, remarkably few dated manuscripts survive from the Jalayirid period, and efforts to understand the nature and extent of artistic production under the dynasty are ongoing.

These are: Rustam Lassoing the Witch, which depicts the hero restraining his enemy before killing it; The Watchman Retreats with His Ears in Hand, which depicts a rarely-illustrated scene from the epic involving Rustam's cutting of a watchman's ears; and Zahhak Nailed to Mt Damavand, an illustration of a different tale from the Shahnameh.

[1] Nurhan Atasoy has characterized eight further paintings, all in H.2153, as being stylistically similar, particularly in their depiction of landscapes and rocks, their framing, and their portrayal of Rustam.

[4] In highlighting the similarities between these eleven paintings, Atasoy suggests that they were made by a single artist with “highly-developed technique and skill.

[1] These two formatting innovations contributed to the Jalayirid trend, identified by Sheila Blair, of “the gradual expansion of the painting at the expense of the text over the course of the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries.”[6] As such, in Rustam Lassoing the Witch, less than a third of the page is taken up by text, and on its left side, the painting extends to the full height of the page.

This was among several Persian innovations inspired by Chinese painting, along with the swirled, lightning-like depiction of clouds, which are visible to the left of the text in Rustam.

[3] Bernard O’Kane has further argued that, due to its depth of imagery, texture, and placement of figures, the Great Jalayirid Shahnameh was a pinnacle of Persian painting, matching the masterpieces of the Timurid and Safavid eras.