Battle Scene, folio from a manuscript of the Khamsa of Niẓāmī

This brightly colored, rectangular painting depicts two cavalries, with red and blue flags, engaged in violent battle. This scene has linear borders on all sides and an illustrative border of vines on the lower edge. The work illustrates the Shiraz style known for its intense colors and expressive figures. At the bottom center and the upper right are text boxes bearing inscriptions in a Persian calligraphic style known as nasta’līq.

This detached sheet was once part of a manuscript album of the Khamsa (Quintet), a collection of five long narrative poems by Nizāmī Ganjavī (1141–1209). He is regarded as the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature, having brought an informal and realistic writing style to the Persian epic genre. His heritage is widely and equally appreciated by those living in the present-day nations of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Tajikistan.