1605
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Illuminated page (verso), from a Panj Ganj (Five Treasures) of Abd al- Rahman Jami (Persian, 1414–1492) with two Persian masnavis: Yusuf va Zulaykha (Joseph and Zulaykha) and Khirad-nama-i Iskandari (Alexander’s Book of Wisdom) is a 1605 unspecified by Mushfiq, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This painting shows a detailed, illuminated page with Persian text and colorful designs. The text describes a beautiful house where a woman tries to seduce Joseph. It's written in a decorative style, with verses about jeweled lamps and herbs. To learn more about this style of art, check out the museum where this painting is kept, The Cleveland Museum of Art.
This section of text from Jami’s poem of Joseph and Zulaykha, written diagonally in the margins, describes the beauties of Zulaykha’s house, in which she intends to seduce Joseph. It includes the following verses: Jeweled lamps on the walls were hung / And odorous herbs were beneath them flung. / She gathered together all things most fair, / And unrolled the carpet of pleasure there. / But amid the charms of the sumptuous hall / She longed only for Joseph, far dearer than all. / A heavenly palace is dark and dim / To a lover whose darling is far from him. The longing of Zulaykha for Joseph…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Mushfiq was a sub-imperial Mughal painter who worked in the atelier of Abd-ur-Rahim Khan-i-Khanan (also called Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana), commander-in-chief of the Mughal army in the late 16th/early 17th century.
See the richer artist page
