Giv, Son of Gudarz, Finds Kay Ḵosrow in Turān

Location: The David Collection, Copenhagen, Denmark, #217/2006, folio 78a.
Page: 35.2 x 21.8 cm.
Painting: 22.6 x 14.0 cm. including painted spaces between the text columns. (Scaled)
Text area: 27.9 x 14.0 cm. (Scaled)
Signature in the center of the lower margin: raqam-e kamina moʿin-e moṣavver.

The venerable Iranian Gudarz was told in a dream that the only person who could find Kay Ḵosrow, the son of Siyāvoš and heir to the Iranian throne, was his own son, Giv. He traveled in Turan alone for seven years until finally in a meadow near a famous forest he spied the royal youth. Here they discuss how they will escape from Turan and Afrāsiyāb's attention. Although Giv was not an old man, Moʿin has given him a white beard, more fitting for Giv's father. The greensward in the foreground with pairs of deer and foxes presents a suitably idyllic setting, while the mountains in the background allude to the terrain through which the two Iranians must pass before reaching safety. While Giv is typical of Moʿin's style with his moustache, fretting brows, and slight forward cant, Kay Ḵosrow recalls youthful figures by Reżā from the beginning of his career in the 1590s. The clenched fist of Kay Ḵosrow's right hand featured often in Reżā's early portraits, and the round cheek and short neck also appear in his works.(fn.39)

Painting references:
Canby_ Journal_2010, p.65-66 no. 12 and p.90, fig.23.

Text references:
Warner, II, pp. 369-73.

Photo: Permille Klemp. Courtesy of The David Collection, Copenhagen

Sheila R. Canby
Last Updated: May 10, 2014 | Originally published: 2010