PLATE XXXVII
The Sīmurgh
The Sīmurgh, flying from its mountain home, restores the infant Zāl to his father Sām, who had caused the child to be abandoned because it had been born with white hair. In his hand the prince carries the ox-headed mace as a symbol of royalty. The painting shows marked Perso-Mongolian influence. From a Persian manuscript of the Shāhnāmah, dated 1587—88 a.d., now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. See also pp. 330-31.