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Zulaykha in her palace and as an elderly woman with Joseph (recto), from a Panj Ganj (Five Treasures) of Abd al- Rahman Jami (Persian, 1414–1492)
Mushfiq (Indian, active early 1600s)
calligrapher Sultan 'Ali al-Mashadi (Iranian, 1430–1520)
1603–7
- Medium
- Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Text area: 17.8 x 9.5 cm (7 x 3 3/4 in.); Page: 31.6 x 20.4 cm (12 7/16 x 8 1/16 in.)
- Culture
- Western Afghanistan, Herat (text); Mughal India (paintings)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Credit line
- Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
The golden pot of white narcissus flowers at the bottom center of the painting signals that Zulaykha, leaning on her staff to the left, will imminently have her youth and beauty restored. In this Persian retelling of the Old Testament account from the Bible, Zulaykha lusted after Joseph, even though she was already married to Potiphar. Joseph, with the golden halo, resisted her advances until she became a widow and retained his youth, because of his extreme virtue. Above, Zulaykha as a young woman waits for Joseph in her house where murals of them as a happy couple are painted on the walls.
