Walters Ms. W.647, Yusuf and Zulaykha

W.647

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 جامي

Note: Copied on the order of Badal Khānṣāḥib (see fol. 170b); author dates preferred by cataloger: d. 898 AH / 1492 CE

This is an illuminated and illustrated copy of Yūsuf va Zulaykhā (Joseph and the Potiphar's wife) by Jāmī (d. 898 AH / 1492 CE). According to the colophon, the text was written by Muḥammad Mīrak in Kashmir in 1190 AH / 1776 CE on the order of Badal Khān Ṣāḥib (fol 170b). Incomplete at the beginning, the text is illustrated with thirty-four paintings.

Thursday 14 Ṣafar 1190 AH / 1776 CE, during the reign of Navāb Amīr Khān

Kashmir

As-written name: Muḥammad Mīrak

Name, in vernacular: محمد ميرک

Book

Literary -- Poetry

The primary language in this manuscript is Persian.

fol. 170b:

2. Transliteration: bi-tārīkh-i chahārdahum-i shahr-i Ṣafar al-muẓaffar sanah-i yakhazār va-yakṣad va-navad dar rūz-i Panjshanbah tārīkh-i [?] ṣadr /1/ bi-vaqt-i pīshīn dar bilād-i Kashmīr jannat-naẓīr dar ʿahd-i Navāb Amīr Khān bi-jihat-i [?] ʿālījāh /2/ Badal Khānṣāḥib ḥasba al-amr bi-dastkhaṭṭ-i aḥqar al-ʿibād Muḥammad Mīrak ghafara Allāh ẕanbahu[?] bi-itmām rasīdah shud /3/
3. Comment: Gives the date, place, name of scribe, and patron

Paper

Laid paper, probably Kashmiri

Foliation: ii+171+v

Catchwords: Written obliquely on versos

Comments:

10.5 cm wide by 16.0 cm high

7.0 cm wide by 12.0 cm high

1. Columns: 2
2. Ruled lines: 12
3. Framing lines in red, green, gold, and black

fols. 1a - 170b:

1. Title: Yūsuf va Zulaykhā
2. Author: Jāmī, 1414-1492
3. Scribe: Muḥammad Mīrak
4. Text note: First ninety-six couplets and some verses missing; a number of folios misbound
5. Hand note: Written in black Indian nastaʿlīq script with section headings in red
6. Decoration note: Thirty-four illustrations; framing lines in red, green, gold, and black

fol. 9a:

1. 
2. Title: Seated portrait of Sultan Hussein
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 16a:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph, in the company of other prophets, in front of Adam
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 22b:

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

fol. 30b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā dreams of Joseph the second time and throws herself at his feet
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 32a:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā has her legs chained by her maids
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 35a:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā dreams of Joseph the third time
3. Form: Illustration
4. Label: Zulaykhā dreams of Joseph the third time and learns about his name and Egypt, where she thinks he is a vizier.

fol. 38a:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā in the company of her maids
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 36*b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykha in front of her father, King Taymūs
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 42b:

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

fol. 44b:

1. 
2. Title: The vizier of Egypt waits in his pavilion for the arrival of Zulaykhā
3. Form: Illumination

fol. 46a:

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

fol. 48a:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā and the vizier of Egypt
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 55b:

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

fol. 61b:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph's brothers throw him into a well
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 68a:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā faints as she recognizes Joseph being sold into slavery
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 80b:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph employed by Zulaykhā as a shepherd
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 91a:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph in Zulaykhā’s garden among her maids
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 92b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā’s maids approach Joseph for him to choose one as a concubine
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 96b:

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

fol. 100b:

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

fol. 103a:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph, running after Zulaykhā, grabs and tears her robe
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 106b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā shows her husband the torn piece of Joseph’s collar as proof of his guilt
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 109a:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā in the company of Egyptian women
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 110b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā asks Joseph to bring in a golden water jar for her to wash her hands
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 111b:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph brings Zulaykhā a golden water jar to wash her hands
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 116b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā tries to persuade her husband to send Joseph to prison
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 118b:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph is brought to prison
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 124b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā visits Joseph in prison
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 132b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā confesses to the king that Joseph is innocent
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 135a:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph interprets the king’s dream
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 140b:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā, after the death of her husband, sits alone in her abode
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 146a:

1. 
2. Title: Zulaykhā entreats Joseph to pray to God to get back her sight and beauty
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 149b:

1. 
2. Title: Joseph and Zulaykhā united in marriage
3. Form: Illustration

fol. 157a:

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

The binding is not original.

Brown lacquer (no flap); decorated central and outer panels

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam

Catalogers: Landau, Amy; Smith, Sita

Copy 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.