Khusrua and Shirin Playing Polo (ca. 1370-1507)

The image depicts a polo match between the Sasanian Prince Khusrau and Shirin. In The Art of Contest chapter on polo, “Polo: the Emperor of Games,” the author describes the significance of the depiction as “the story of the Sasanian prince Khusrau, who falls in love with his Armenian wife Shirin when he sees her and her girlfriends playing polo” (p. 296). The theme of romantic relationships seen historically in relation to games and their play is also exhibited in polo. As in chess and weiqi, men saw women’s ability to compete with them in pass times they enjoyed as an attractive feature of their future life partners. Depictions like these also tend to exhibit the acceptability of women participating in polo, even in cross-gender matches. Women’s acceptance was a theme throughout polo’s history, and like many of the other games we have explored women were gradually pushed to obscurity in relation to the game.