Page from a manuscript of Yusuf and Zulaykha of Jami

This text page from a dispersed manuscript tells the story of the prophet Yusuf (Joseph in the Old Testament) and Zulaykha (Potiphar's wife). Yusuf and Zulaykha was one of the seven poems comprising the celebrated Persian poet Abd ai-Rahman Jami's Haft Awrang (Seven Thrones). Composed in 1484-1485, and especially popular in the Persian-speaking world from the 1550s, it was frequently copied in elegant pages such as this.

Although Yusuf and Zulaykha manuscripts were often illustrated, it is unclear whether this one had any paintings. All pages probably had decorated borders, and here we see real and mythical animals in a landscape setting. The rhymed couplets are written in the nasta'liq script and organized in two columns (read across the page from right to left), a format and script characteristic of Persian narrative and lyrical poetry.