Cleveland Museum of Art

The dream of Zulaykha, from the Amber Album

Date: c. 1670
Medium: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Culture: India, Mughal, 17th century
Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

In Islamic texts, as in the Hebrew and Christian Old Testament traditions, Zulaykha is the unnamed wife of Potiphar, a wealthy Egyptian. This scene is from a popular Persian poem that recounts the story of Joseph and Zulaykha as a mystical romance, and describes her visionary dreams of a beautiful lover. In this painting we see the luxuriously dressed Zulaykha asleep on a terrace, reclining on ornate pillows as a vision of her love, Joseph, appears before her. He is illuminated by radiant light cast down by angels emerging from the dark night clouds. Joseph, the man of Zulaykha’s dreams, is dressed as a Mughal prince.

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