The date of the miniatures can be hazarded on the basis of related early fourteenth-century material usually associated with Iran, a group that includes two now dispersed copies of the Shah-nama in a similar small format and illustrated in an equally lively but more fastidious style, with less stocky figures. They are the best drawn, among the most vigorous, and probably the earliest of surviving pictures from the Sultanate period. All the known miniatures from the manuscript to which this painting belongs, called the Schulz Shah-nama after the distinguished German scholar who once owned it, are in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The jumble of waves calms obediently where Rustam swims, and although the weeds just beyond the nasty, lionesque water creature stab aggressively at the hero, the blossoms near him peep out in tender encouragement. Akvan's arms have barely released his victim, yet his optimistic face is already shadowed by a hint of dismay. The artist portrays the scene with the utmost humor and economy. After battling with crocodiles, Rustam swims to freedom. Knowing that whichever he chooses, the demon will do the opposite, Rustam requests the former, whereupon Akvan tosses him into the sea. With gentlemanly consideration, Akvan then asks Rustam whether he would prefer to be flung to his death onto the mountaintops or drowned in the deep sea. As Rustam sleeps, the div comes upon him, and with devilish care cuts out the turf around him and lifts him, ground and all, into the air. In this episode Rustam, exhausted by his strenuous search for the terrible div Akvan, lies down for a nap.
Rustam thrown into the Water by the Demon Akvan Cheered on by a squawking duck, Rustam-the principal champion of Firdausi's great eleventh-century Iranian epic the Shah-nama (Book of Kings)-fights for his life.
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