"Iranian miniatures were intended for intimate viewing. Those here, from a copy of the Shah-nameh, or Book of Kings would have been enjoyed by their patron while he sat or knelt on a carpet with the nobly large manuscript opened conveniently on a low bookstand. On occasion, he, or a professional reader, would have intoned the verses of the epic while the folios were explored. After taking in whole compositions, the viewer's eyes tracked from one detail to the next, enjoying microcosmic sections approximating those printed in this calender." (Excerpts from the Metropolitain Museum of Fine Art's 1980 publication "1980 The Magic Kingdom".)

Detail from Buzurjmihr masters the Game of Chess
When the ruler of Hind (India) sent the Shah of Iran a squared off board and pieces and challnged him to divine their use, wise Buzurjmihr not only re-invented chess, but defeated the Indian envoy at his own game. 'Abd ul-Vahhab's wiry arabesques, intricate as a computer's circuitry, suggest Buzurjmihr's cerebral convolutions.

Detail from Tahmuras Defeats the Divs, folio 23, verso.
Attributable to Sultan Muhammad
Betoothed, befanged and betusked, these divs (demons) were defeated by the hero Tahmuras. They regained freedom, however, by offering to reveal a new though unspecified art: the alphabet. Along with it came thirty languages, devilish creations that have enriched, grammarians but made for a divided world ever since.

Detail from Mihrah Vents his Anger upon Sindukht, folio 83 verso.
Attributable to Quadimi and 'Abd ul-Vahhab
Psychological verities as well as heroics abound in the Book of Kings. When beleagurered Mihrab vented his frustration and rage upon Sindukht, she calmed him by arguing that generosity and tact might succeed against the enemy when armed might was doomed to fail.