Bahram Gur kills a unicorn (karg) in India (recto) and Bahram Gur kills a dragon in India (verso), from the Book of Kings (Shahnama).
Detached folio, ink, pigments and gold on paper, later mounted onto card, Persian text with two chapter-headings and two paintings, possibly Tabriz, Iran, c. 1300.
This folio is from a dispersed manuscript known to scholars as the "First Small Shahnama". The "Small Shahnama" manuscripts are the earliest known illustrated examples of the Book of Kings (Shahnama), the epic Persian poem composed c. 1010 by Firdausi. Two manuscripts are dispersed, and a third is in the Freer Gallery in Washington, DC. Of small format, these three manuscripts are undated, but usually attributed to c. 1300 on stylistic grounds.