"Yusuf and Zulaikha", Folio 51r from a Bustan of Sa`di

Yusuf Fleeing from Zulaikha

The incident in the life of Yusuf (Joseph) illustrated here is a popular one in Muslim tradition. The Egyptian noble-woman Zulaikha (known only as Potiphar's wife in the Bible), in her passion for the youthful slave in her household, locked all the doors of the rooms of her house so that the beautiful Yusuf could not escape her embraces. However, kept pure by the force of his faith in God, Yusuf fled, the locked doors miraculously bursting open before him. As he went, Zulaikha clung to his robes, tearing them in her desperation. Then, in her humiliation she accused the slave before her husband of trying to seduce her. It was decided that an inspection of Yusuf's clothes would resolve the problem: if torn in the front, Zulaikha's position would be vindicated, but if torn from behind, Yusuf would be exonerated.Thus Yusuf's innocence was established. In Sa'di's poem, the reference to these events is extremely brief: "Zulaikha, drunk with the wine of love/ Hung by the hand on Joseph's skirts." However, the details of the story would have been familiar to most Muslims, principally from two sources: the Koran, where the twelfth Sura or chapter is devoted to the story of Yusuf and is the touchstone for all other versions, and the epic poem Yusuf u Zulaykha, the widely read masterpiece of the later fifteenth-century poet Jami.

The most celebrated illustration of this story was painted by the revered Persian artist, Behzad, working in the court atelier of the Timurid ruler of Herat, Sultan Hosayn Bayqara (reigned 1469–1506). That painting is also in a Bustan manuscript completed in 1487–88 and now in Cairo.

While the roots of the Bukhara school of the sixteenth century are deeply embedded in the Herat tradition, the painting illustrated here exemplifies some of the changes in attitude and style that developed.The compositional complexities of the Herat school tend to disappear in favor of a more two-dimensional use of space, a basic symmetry in design, dense surface patterns, and a tendency to embellish the areas of text and to provide decorative borders.

Marie Lukens Swietochowski in [Berlin 1981]

[ Nasli M. Heeramaneck, New York, until 1937; sold to Kahn family]; Kahn family, by descent (1937–74; sold to MMA by Dr. E.A. Kahn on behalf ofhis daughter, Mrs. Barbara Potter, Germany)

de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Exhibition of Islamic Art," February 24, 1937–March 22, 1937, no. 3.

Berlin. Museum für Islamische Kunst, Pergamonmuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. "The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the M.M.A.," June 15, 1981–August 8, 1981, no. 79.

Aga-Oglu, Mehmet. "M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, February 24 to March 22, 1937." In Exhibition of Islamic Art. San Francisco, 1937. no. 3, p. 23.

Swietochowski, Marie, and Marilyn Jenkins-Madina. Notable Acquisitions 1965–1975 (1975). p. 135, ill. (b/w).

Wickens, G., and Sa'di. Morals Pointed and Tales Adorned : The Bustan of Sa'di. Persian heritage series; no. 17. Leiden, The Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1978. pp. 236–37.

"Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York." In The Arts of Islam. Berlin, 1981. no. 79, pp. 196–97, ill. p. 197 (b/w).