Kay Khosrow Crosses the Sea of Zareh on His Way to China, a scene from the Shahnama of Firdausi

The young man of Baghdad reveals his true identity to the Hashimi, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot: Forty-eighth Night

Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)

Rustan en demon

anonymous

The creatures of the sea are asked by the king of the Ocean to take a message to the Brahman, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eleventh Night

Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)

Rustam slaying jackal, from the Shahnama of Firdausi

Islamic

The young man of Baghdad joins the Hashimi’s boat as a sailor to find his slave-girl on board, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Forty-eighth Night

Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)

Shahnameh-aihe

Unknown Artist

Rustam met draak

anonymous

Alexander Comforts the Dying Darius, page from a copy of the Shahnama of Firdausi

Islamic

An East African King Receives Three Emissaries, from a Khamsa of Amir Khusrau Dihlavi

India, Sultanate period

The Brahman’s predicament is conveyed by the wind to the fish who carries the news to the king of the Ocean, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Eleventh Night

Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)

The third suitor strikes the devotee’s daughter and thus restores her to life, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twentieth Night

Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)

The merchant Mansur departs on a sea voyage, leaving his wife behind, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Seventeenth Night

Mughal India, court of Akbar (reigned 1556–1605)