Walters Ms. W.646, Yusuf and Zulaykha

W.646

Yusuf and Zulaykha

Yūsuf va Zulaykhā

Vernacular: يوسف وزليخا

Authority name: Jāmī, 1414-1492

As-written name: Nūr al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Aḥmad Jāmī

Name, in vernacular: نور الدين عبد الرحمان بن احمد جامى

Note: Author dates preferred by cataloger: d. 898 AH / 1492 CE

This is an illuminated and illustrated copy of the famous story of Joseph and the Potiphar's wife (Yūsuf va Zulaykhā) by Jāmī (d. 898 AH / 1492 CE). The manuscript was written in India in the late twelfth century AH / eighteenth CE in black nastaʿlīq script. There are forty-seven paintings illustrating the text. The lacquer binding with floral decoration is attributable to the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE.

Late 12th century AH / 18th CE

India

Book

Literary -- Poetry

The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.

Paper

Laid paper

Foliation: ii+187+i

Catchwords: Written obliquely on versos

13.5 cm wide by 22.0 cm high

8.5 cm wide by 15.0 cm high

1. Columns: 2
2. Ruled lines: 13
3. Two columns; double frame for the text and the marginalia

fols. 1b - 186a:

1. Title: Yūsuf va Zulaykhā
2. Author: Jāmī, 1414-1492
3. Incipit: الهى غنچه اميد بكشاى ...
4. Hand note: Written in black Indian nastaʿlīq script with section headings in red
5. Decoration note: Forty-seven illustrations; double-page illuminated incipit with headpiece inscribed with the doxological formula (basmalah), cloud-bands, and a border

Upper board outside:

1. 
2. Title: Binding
3. Form: Binding
4. Label: This lacquer binding with floral decoration is attributable to the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE.

Upper board inside:

1. 
2. Title: Binding
3. Form: Binding
4. Label: This lacquer binding with floral decoration is attributable to the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE.

fol. 1b:

1. 
2. Title: Incipit page with illuminated headpiece
3. Form: Incipit; headpiece
4. Label: This incipit page has an illuminated headpiece inscribed with the doxological formula (basmalah) in white ink. The page is also decorated with cloud-bands and a decorated border.

fol. 7b:

1. 
2. Title: Ascension of the Prophet Muhammad into heaven
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 12b:

1. 
2. Title: Khvājah Faqr, to whom an accompanying poem is dedicated, and his sons
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 14b:

1. 
2. Title: Khvājah Faqr, to whom an accompanying poem is dedicated, seated on the throne
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 21a:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph (with a halo) and prophets in front of Adam
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 27a:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā and her father, King Taymūs
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 29b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā dreams of Joseph
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 35a:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā is cautioned by her nurse
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 38b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā has her legs chained by her maids in the presence of her father
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 43b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā’s father sends an envoy to the vizier of Egypt with an offer of marriage
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 48b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā is escorted to Egypt to marry the vizier
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 50a:

1. 
2. Title: The vizier of Egypt comes with his retinue to meet Zulaykhā
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 52b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā, peeking through a hole in her tent, discovers that the vizier is not Joseph
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 55a:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā, peeking through a hole in her tent, discovers that the vizier is not Joseph
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 59b:

1. 
2. Title: An angel brings a staff for Joseph, who, with his father Jacob, prays to God
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 61b:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph, asleep beside Jacob, has a dream of the sun and moon bowing to him
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 63b:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph’s brothers plot against him
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 65b:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph’s brothers ask their father Jacob to allow Joseph to join them in the countryside
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 68b:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph, having been thrown into a well, is comforted by the Archangel Gabriel
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 71a:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph is pulled out of the well by people from a caravan on its way to Egypt
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 74b:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph bathes in the Nile before the head of the caravan and his people
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 79a:

1. 
2. Title: The caravan master sells Joseph to the vizier of Egypt
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 82a:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph is visited by the daughter of Bāzighah of ʿĀdīyān, who declares her love for him
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 83b:

1. 
2. Title: The daughter of Bāzighah in her temple, having been robbed of her wealth
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 87b:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph asks Zulaykhā to let him be a shepherd
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 89a:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph shepherds a flock of sheep under the watchful eye of Zulaykhā's servants
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 93a:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā sends her nurse to Joseph to declare her love for him
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 95a:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph receives Zulaykhā’s nurse and sends back a negative reply
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 97b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā before Joseph trying to seduce him
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 103a:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph is approached by beautiful maidens sent to him by Zulaykhā
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 110b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā shows Joseph her newly built, seven-room palace
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 116a:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph takes leave of Zulaykhā, having again been tempted with her amorous entreaties
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 117a:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā, trying to prevent Joseph from leaving the palace, grabs him by the collar
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 120a:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph is arrested by the vizier’s guard, having been falsely accused by Zulaykhā of trying to seduce her in her sleep
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 122b:

1. 
2. Title: The vizier is instructed by a relative of Zulaykhā regarding Joseph’s torn collar
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 127b:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph brings in a golden water jar for Zulaykha to wash her hands while her women friends, overcome by his great beauty, injure their fingers while peeling citrons
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 133b:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph is led to prison on orders from Zulaykhā
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 140a:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā and her nurse visit Joseph in prison at night
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 143a:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā, regretful over what she has done, looks out of the window that gives on to the prison
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 146a:

1. 
2. Title: The Egyptian king dreams of seven fat and seven lean cows
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 148b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā, in the company of the Egyptian women and her nurse, confesses Joseph’s unlawful imprisonment to the king
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 151a:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph, released from prison, consults with the king in his capacity as the new vizier
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 157a:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā, after the death of her husband and separated from Joseph, sits in her abode made of reeds
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 159b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā, having broken to pieces the golden idol, prays to the one true God
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 165a:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph, having prayed to God to restore Zulaykhā’s beauty and being directed by God to marry her, orders a priest to prepare the marriage ceremony
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 167b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā, enthroned in her newly built palace, in the company of Joseph
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 170b:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph, on horseback, is offered an apple by the Archangel Gabriel and dies
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 174b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā mourns the death of Joseph
3. Form: Illustration

The binding is not original.

Possibly dates to the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE; lacquer (no flap); floral design covering the whole surface of the boards, including the central ovals and pendants

Acquisition note: Made in Dār al-ʿIbādah Yazd, dated Ramaḍān 1236 AH / 1821 CE and signed by the court librarian Mīrzā Bābā; seal underneath: ʿAbduh Jahāngīr, 118[0][?] AH / 1766-7 CE (fol. 1a)

Former owner: Muḥammad Valī Mīrzā (fol. 1a)

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

Richard, Francis. Catalogue des manuscrits persans. (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1989), nos. 356, 359-361, 369.

Gacek, Adam. Persian Manuscripts in the Libraries of McGill University: Brief Union Catalogue. (Montreal: McGill University Libraries, 2005), no. 334.

Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam

Catalogers: Landau, Amy; Smith, Sita

Editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Jewell, Stephanie; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Barrera, Christina; Emery, Doug; Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William; Simpson, Shreve; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara

The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.