SAFAVID IRAN, 16TH CENTURY

In the story surrounding this painting, Yusuf’s brothers, overcome by jealousy, throw Yusuf into a well. He survives the fall and is freed days later by a passing merchant who lowers a bucket into the well and, to his surprise, brings Yusuf up with it. The merchant takes him to Egypt where he is put up for sale in a slave market as depicted here. The wondrous beauty of Yusuf causes tumult in the town but it is Zulaykha who watches the sale on a camel in the upper left, who has the winning bid. Further folios and manuscripts depicting the same scene are held in museum collections such as one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc.no.69.114.3) and another in the British Library (OR 4122, folio 76b).