A large painting from a manuscript of Firdausi's Shahnama, depicting the story of Haftvad and the worm, with Ardeshir entering the fortress Persia, perhaps Tabriz, circa 1560-70A large painting from a manuscript of Firdausi's Shahnama, depicting the story of Haftvad and the worm, with Ardeshir entering the fortress Persia, perhaps Tabriz, circa 1560-70gouache and gold on paper, trimmed 375 x 250 mm.ProvenancePrivate collection, London.The composition is closely modelled on the full-page illustration on a leaf (f. 521v) in the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto (AKM164) from Shah Tahmasp's Shahnama, Shiraz, circa 1540, the painting attributed to Dust Muhammad (see S. C. Welch, Wonders of the Age: Masterpieces of Early Safavid Painting, 1501-1576, Harvard 1979, pp. 98-101, no. 31).The scene comes from the Parthian section of Firdausi's Shahnama. In the story of Haftvad and the worm, Ardeshir, disguised as a merchant, enters the fortress and takes the box holding the worm and seizes the town. The first episode is depicted at the lower left, where young girls with spinning wheels are seated around a pool. One of the girls is Haftvad's daughter, who has taken a bite from an apple and discovered a worm. She announces that the worm will bring her good luck in her spinning, and keeps the worm with her in a box. Her pronouncement comes true - the products of her spinning increase, and so does the prosperity of the town where she lives and which is seen behind her. This new-found prosperity is shown both in the splendour of the buildings, and the busy activity of workers, who chop firewood, sell food in their shops, and plant seeds. The story turns out badly. Shah Ardashir, founder of the Sasanian Dynasty, saw the worm as a threat to his authority. He disguised himself as a merchant and gained access to the worm (which had by then become so large that it required an enormous building to house it). Ardashir killed the worm by pouring boiling lead down its throat. His soldiers then occupied the town and executed Haftvad and his seven sons.For another large Safavid version of the scene, similar in composition (though in mirror image), and attributed to Dust Muhammad, at a time when he was working in Mughal India, circa 1555, see Sotheby's, Islamic and Indian Art, Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, 29th-30th April 1992, lot 291. The drawing was then in the collection of Howard Hodgkin. The Sotheby's note observes that 'Dust Muhammad's rendering of Haftad and the Worm was evidently greatly admired at the Mughal court, for another fully coloured version was commissioned by Humayun's grandson, the Emperor Jahangir, for inclusion in his album, now in the Berlin State Museums.Important Notice to BuyersSome countries e.g., the US, prohibit or restrict the purchase by its citizens (wherever located) and/or the import of certain types of Iranian-origin works. As a convenience to buyers, Bonhams has marked with the symbol R all lots of Iranian (Persian) origin. It is each buyer's responsibility to ensure that they do not bid or import a lot in contravention of the sanctions or trade embargoes that apply to them.