ManuscriptsPersian16th-17th century

Bifolio from a manuscript of Yusuf va Zulaykha by Jami

16th-17th century

Description

This is a bifolio from a manuscript of Yusuf and Zulaykha of Jami, the renowned classical Persian poet (1414-1492). The bifolio consists of gold-sprayed cream- colored paper for text panels which are set in large pinkish-red margins. The seams are concealed under several colored rulings. The text is copied in 12 lines and two columns in nastaliq script in black ink. The middle of the two columns is illuminated with arabesques on a gold ground. There is also a simple framing line towards the edge of the red margin. The verses on the bifolio belong to the end of Jami's poem where Zulaykha dies after Yusuf’s death and the epilogue starts. The right side of the bifolio is not contiguous with the left side of the bifolio. There are 96 couplets missing. Since each page normally has 12 couplets, there would be eight pages (four folios or two bifolios) required to fill the gap which would have nested between the right and left side of the bifolio. This bifolio appears to have come from a manuscript that is widely dispersed. Three other folios are found in Harvard Art Museums' collection (1936.150.8.1, 1936.150.8.2, 1936.150.8.3). Two more folios are at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (22.799a and 22.799b). Another folio is in the collection of Villa I Tatti, the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, Florence.

Classification

Manuscripts

Medium

Ink, colors, and gold on paper

Culture

Persian

Period

Safavid period

Century

16th-17th century

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art

Dimensions

22.2 x 14 cm (8 3/4 x 5 1/2 in.)

Provenance

Edwin Binney, 3rd, California (1979-1986), bequest; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2012. NOTE: Stored at the San Diego Museum of Art from some time before 1986 until 1991, then at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art from 1991-2011.