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Lot Essay
The paintings depict:
1. Yusuf is rescued from the well
2. Zulaykha and her friends are struck by the beauty of Yusuf and cut their fingers as they peel oranges
This manuscript displays a wealth of rich illuminated detail. A further manuscript of Yusuf wa Zulaykha of Jami dated to the equivalent of 1531-32 AD and attributed to Bukhara, (offered in these Rooms, 10 October 2013, lot 10), contained a very similar opening illuminated bifolio, with very distinctive interlocking palmettes flanking the text panel. A Bustan of Sa’di in the collection of the Royal Asiatic Society contains a painting which depicts the King of Syria in a vaulted interior decorated in two variants of a geometric lattice which are both closely paralleled in the painting depicting Yusuf and Zulaykha in our manuscript, (inv. M. 251; Basil Gray (gen.ed.), Arts of the Book in Central Asia, Paris and London 1979, no.148, p.248). The painting from the Bustan which is attributed to Bukhara circa 1530 also has the same exuberant floral illumination on black ground which surrounds the domed pavilion that is again paralleled in our painting of Yusuf and Zulaykha.
1. Yusuf is rescued from the well
2. Zulaykha and her friends are struck by the beauty of Yusuf and cut their fingers as they peel oranges
This manuscript displays a wealth of rich illuminated detail. A further manuscript of Yusuf wa Zulaykha of Jami dated to the equivalent of 1531-32 AD and attributed to Bukhara, (offered in these Rooms, 10 October 2013, lot 10), contained a very similar opening illuminated bifolio, with very distinctive interlocking palmettes flanking the text panel. A Bustan of Sa’di in the collection of the Royal Asiatic Society contains a painting which depicts the King of Syria in a vaulted interior decorated in two variants of a geometric lattice which are both closely paralleled in the painting depicting Yusuf and Zulaykha in our manuscript, (inv. M. 251; Basil Gray (gen.ed.), Arts of the Book in Central Asia, Paris and London 1979, no.148, p.248). The painting from the Bustan which is attributed to Bukhara circa 1530 also has the same exuberant floral illumination on black ground which surrounds the domed pavilion that is again paralleled in our painting of Yusuf and Zulaykha.