Folio from the Shahnama Iran, Shiraz, Safavid period, 1575-1590 Ink, opaque watercolor, gold and silver on paper 2002.50.36, cat 100 While exploring the Land of Darkness, Iskandar engages a local mystic, Khizr, to lead him to the Water of Life. But Iskandar and his troops take a wrong turn, become separated from Khizr, and must continue unguided through the gloom. On a mountain, Iskandar encounters the archangel Israfil, awaiting God's orders to sound the trumpet at the end of time. Israfil warns Iskandar to concern himself less with crown and throne, since he too will someday hear the trumpet call. Meanwhile, Khizr and a second mystic, Ilyas, discover the magical spring that Iskandar was seeking. An imposing Israfil, holding a seven-belled horn, dominates this dark and dramatic composition, dwarfing even Iskandar. Below them, Iskandar's soldiers struggle up the rocky, winding route. At bottom left, Khizr and Ilyas, their piety indicated by flaming haloes, courteously share the Water of Life that will grant them immortality.
aperture=f2.8 focal length: 60.0 mm exposure 1/50 sec ISO: 2000