The Evolution of the Unicorn Motif of the in the Shahnama Illustrations (14th-16th Centuries)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Student, Islamic Arts Department, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Kashan University, Kashan, Iran.

2 Department of Islamic Art, Faculty of Art & Architecture, University of Kashan, Kashan, IRAN

Abstract

The unicorn has been one of the common animal motifs in Persian arts of the book. Unicorn imagery is not exclusive to Islamic art. Depictions of this mythical creature can be found in various cultures and civilizations across the East and the West. While the western world's familiarity with unicorns is due to descriptions found in the Old Testament, early Christianity, and Celtic and Scandinavian myths, Muslim writers and Iranian painters have a more realistic understanding of the animal. This is because they are aware of the presence of rhinoceroses in tropical regions of Islamic lands such as India. An Iranian painter had a higher chance of seeing a rhinoceros up close than a Western artist. They could have also studied its description in Islamic scientific books. Apart from the texts related to natural science, geography and zoology, descriptions of this animal can be found in the Shahnama, where the heroes like Gushtasp, Iskandar, Isfandiyar and Bahram fight against the Karg or rhinoceros. Karg in Pahlavi is a word borrowed from Sanskrit literature and means unicorn. Although in Shahnama the Karg is classified as a rhinoceros, usually the painters have depicted different horned animals such as wolf, lion, gazelle or the Chinese Qilin. In this article, the authors analyze the description of the Karg in the Shahnama and compare it with other Islamic sources. The article examines the evolution of this animal motif in the illustrations of the Shahnamas from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries and aims to change the role of the unicorn from an imaginary animal to a realistic one. Some pictures of unicorns represent a fictional animal, while others are closer to the zoological features of the rhinoceros in the real world. To make the discussion of the evolution of the unicorn motif more engaging and understandable, it may be helpful to add concrete examples or images, as well as to provide a brief introduction or background information on the Shahnama and its significance in Persian literature and art. The main focus of this article is to investigate how the depictions of unicorns or rhinoceroses changed over time in the illustrations of Shahnama books from the Ilkhanid to the Safavid era. The article explores three questions related to the motif of the unicorn in Shahnama illustrations from the 14th to the 17th centuries. Firstly, it investigates the formation of the unicorn motif during this period. Secondly, it examines the connection between the unicorn motif in Shahnama paintings and Qilin or Chinese rhinoceros. Finally, it looks into why the painters of battle scenes with rhinoceros have not accurately depicted the animal, contrary to accurate and zoological descriptions mentioned in Islamic and Persian texts. This research is of a fundamental type and uses a descriptive research approach with an analytical method. The research examines previous studies in the field of Iranian painting history and literature and uses library resources and museum websites to view paintings. This study collects eighteen images from Shahnama that depict diverse and different images of the unicorn, some of which are imaginary, while others have a more realistic understanding of the rhinoceros. For instance, images of the unicorn from around 950 H/1543 AD are closer to the realistic image of the rhinoceros. However, imaginary images of the unicorn are still depicted in these years, which can be attributed to painters imitating available models. The findings indicate that the diversity in the unicorn motif can be attributed to the influence of Chinese pictorial traditions, which make the motif of the unicorn similar to Qilin in some Shahnamas. Additionally, vague and sometimes contradictory descriptions of the rhinoceros in Islamic texts and Persian literature have made it difficult for artists to have a comprehensive and documented understanding of the animal, leading to imaginative depictions. Finally, since prior to the 9th century AH the letters from the Arabic alphabet were commonly used in inscription of the manuscripts, some writers of Shahnama, especially in the older versions, read and wrote the word "Karg" as "Kark", while the very same word was sometimes written as “wolf” in the subsequent manuscripts, contributing to the development of an imaginary idea of the unicorn motif and leading some of the painters to depict and picture the animal as a horned wolf.

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References

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Negareh Journal
Volume 20, Issue 74
June 2025
Pages 41-60

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History

  • Receive Date: 09 December 2023
  • Revise Date: 24 February 2024
  • Accept Date: 26 February 2024

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