2-748-493 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Zulaykha in her palace and as an old woman with Joseph, from a Panj Ganj (Five Treasures) of Abd al- Rahman Jami (Persian, 1414-1492), 1603-1607. This page illustrates two episodes from the story of Joseph and Zulaykha. In the first, Zulaykha awaits Joseph in the house she has built for them. She has painted the walls with romantic scenes and dressed herself alluringly with the intention of seducing him. The artist has discreetly inserted his name and the painting’s date in a brick of the house at the upper left. The virtuous Joseph, with flaming halo and eternally youthful features, rejects the married woman’s advances, but many years later, when Zulaykha is an elderly widow, they are reunited. In the second episode we see the aged Zulaykha meeting Joseph. His prayers will restore her to youthful beauty, and the two will finally be joined as lovers.