Yusuf wa Zuleikha,

£12,500 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

copied only 23 years after the author's death An exceptionally early manuscript example of the well-known medieval Islamic allegorical love story between Yusuf and Zulaykha (Joseph and Potiphar's wife in the biblical context) by the prolific Persian poet Jami (d. 1492). Though the story is a familiar one to Muslims and has been retold over the centuries, this lyrical retelling of the story by Jami is by far the most popular. It first appeared in his famous his Haft Awrang, where the epic took on new Sufi interpretations of human passions transcending into divine love through Jami's lyrics. It's now considered one of the masterpieces of Sufi literature and a classical example of Qur'anic narrative being retold through the Sufi imagination: including interpretations whereby Zulaykha's longing for Yusuf represents the soul's quest for God. This manuscript has 6 miniatures in the text that are executed in a Timurid style, the fall of the Timurid empire being a few years before the copying of this example, and there are very few extant manuscripts of Jami's text that contain illustrations as early as the present example. Furthermore, this manuscript contains additional decoration in the form of marbled and dyed paper with examples appearing throughout the codex. The origins of the art of paper marbling are somewhat obscure. Although there are traces of the artform from Japan in the 12th century, the practice of marbling paper (as it is known today) is thought to have originated fr

• Binding: Hardcover

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