Study of Rostam and Div-e Sepid Paintings in Miniature

Shahnameh of Ferdowsi as a valuable and inspiring resource, since appearance was welcomed by artists and artisans of the Islamic era. Since Ferdowsi described the epic stories in his book so meticulous and attentive and full of beauty, Persian painters decorated Shahnama’s books with illustration of battle scenes between two power of good and evil. The story of the battle of Rustam and white demon (Div-e Sepid) is one of the most famous story in the seventh labor (Khan-e Haftum).This scene also was painted repeatedly in the Shahnameh manuscripts in different painting schools. This research is about this scene in the illustrations in Shiraz, Herat, Tabriz, and Isfahan schools in Iran which all of them are very important painting schools of Iran. This study is written via descriptive and analytical methods. Vast surveys showed some specific and indicative differences in backgrounds of images, how they shows portraits of heroes and characters or scenes, also composition of colors, clothes and rules of perspective in the painting of the scene in various schools. Determination and differentiation or participation of qualities in paintings of the scene of Shahnama beside of other scenes will be able to contrive for more knowledge of properties of these four schools and their differences from each other from the eighth century A.H to 11 A.H.