This item has been added to the Database within the Explore Islamic Art Collections project. Information is available in: English, Arabic.

Name of Object:

Zulaikha Seizing the Skirt of Yusuf's Robe Folio from an album (or manuscript) with ghazals by Sa'adi

Location:

Kyiv, Ukraine

Holding Museum:

The Khanenko Museum

About The Khanenko Museum, Kyiv

Date of Object:

AD 17th century (miniature); AD 16th century (calligraphy)

Museum Inventory Number:

439 ГРВ

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Opaque watercolour, gold, ink on paper

Dimensions:

Height: 25cm, Width: 14.5cm

Period / Dynasty:

Safavid

Workshop / Movement:

Isfahan school (?)

Provenance:

Isfahan, Iran (?)

Description:

The miniature on the folio illustrates one of the key episodes of the poem "Yusuf and Zuleikha" by Jami. Zuleikha invites Yusuf (pictured with a “flame of the prophet" around his head) to a magnificent palace where he declares love. However, the virtuous Yusuf tries to escape. Zuleikha catches up to him at the door and grabs the edge of his robe. The man in the golden crown watching the scene from behind the open door on the left is probably the husband of Zulayaha, the Egyptian nobleman. He holds a "finger of surprise" at his mouth - a conditional gesture in Persian miniature signifying great astonishment.
The composition and style of the painting follow a famous miniature of AD 1640, attributed to the brush of Muin Musavvir (1617–1702), an outstanding master of the Isfahan painting school.
Interestingly, the miniature is painted on a folio from a poetic album (or a manuscript) of the late 16th century, containing poems by Sa’adi Shirazi (1203 / 1210–1291), a great Persian poet.

How date and origin were established:

Stylistic analysis by L. Guzalian (1953, date, origin) and H. Rudyk (2017, origin specified). Sa'adi ghazal identified by N. Vyshnevska (2016).

How Object was obtained:

Purchased in 1940s in Kyiv from a private owner.

How provenance was established:

Publication of Vera Krachkovskaya (1927). Old Museum Inventory Register (1925-1946).

Selected bibliography:

Canby, Sheila R. (ed), Safavid Art and Architecture, London: British Museum Press, 2002.
Farhad, M., “The Art of Muʿin Musavvir: A Mirror of His Times,” in Sheyla R. Canby (ed), Persian Masters: Five Centuries of Painting, Bombay: Marg, 1990.
Rudyk, H. (ed), Charisma of Iran. Persian art of 12th–19th centuries from museum collections of Ukraine, Kyiv: The Khanenko Museum, 2017.

Citation of this web page:

Antonina Makarevych, Hanna Rudyk "Zulaikha Seizing the Skirt of Yusuf's Robe Folio from an album (or manuscript) with ghazals by Sa'adi" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;uc;Mus21;7;en

Prepared by: Antonina Makarevych, Hanna Rudyk
Copyedited by: Janice MedinaJanice Medina

Janice Medina is an artist and educator based in Upstate New York. She studied interior design at Syracuse University and obtained her M.S. in Building Conservation in 2008 (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and Master of Fine Arts in 2019 (University at Albany).

Janice is a former participant in the US/ICOMOS International Exchange Program and she has taught courses in the history of design and historic preservation. Her artwork is influenced by her experiences in historic preservation, as well as by building materials and the natural environment.

Janice has participated as a copy-editor with Museum With No Frontiers since 2019. In this role she has had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects including Discover Islamic Art, Discover Baroque Art and Discover Glass Art.

MWNF Working Number: UC1 07