Yusuf ve Züleyha - يوسف وزليها.

This volume contains an allegorical poem recounting the story of Yusuf and Zeliha (Joseph and Züleyha) completed in 897 AH (1491-92 CE) by Hamdullah İbn-i Ak Şemseddin, known as Hamdi (died 909 AH/1503 CE or 914 AH/1509 CE). Illustrations that bear evidence of an earlier artistic style were added to this copy, perhaps during the 19th century CE. There are five throughout the text: ff 42v, 97r, 144v, 205r, 252r; with medallion designs on the reverse of each which bears a resemblance to the medallions found on the bindings. The content of the illustrations is as follows:. 1. f 42v: A young prince or noble, seated on a rug, with three youths in attendants. The adjoining text refers to Yusuf (Joseph) and it is possible that the central figure is intended to be him. The images also includes gold vessels with indeterminate refreshments, a flowering tree and mountain in background, and a gold sky (98 mm x 47 mm);. 2. f 97r : Four youths and a gazelle (?) in a verdant landscape with a hilly background, a stylised tree extending into right margin, and a gold sky. The accompanying text describes the childhood of Züleyha (maximum 100 mm x 49 mm);. 3. f 144v: A man seated on a rug, and a seated companion or attendant. These could conceivably represent the Aziz of Egypt and Yusuf respectively. There is a stylised palace interior, with a flowering tree (extended into top margin) and coloured and gilt decoration and portrait of a man (maximum 106 mm x 47 mm);. 4. f 205r: A man and a woman sitting together with hands touching (upper register of painting); and another man and woman standing in two arches of an arcaded building and speaking (lower register). The image contains ornamental stylised backgrounds with gilding and arabesques. The painting possibly represents Züleyha visiting Yusuf in the prison after remembering having been with him before his imprisonment (102 mm x 47 mm);. 5. f 252r. Two couples seated in an ornate interior setting, with gold vessels. There is a portico with dome slightly extended into upper margin, and stylised decor with gilding and arabesques. At least one couple may be intended to represent Yusuf and Züleyha. The text contains a single illuminated unvan on f 1v. The colophon is found on f 251v, in which we learn that the manuscript was copied by Razvan İbn-i Abdürrahman and dated evail Cemaziülahir 1008 AH (late December 1599).

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Purchased by the British Library on auction at Sotheby's & Co. on 16 April 1984.

Other copies of this text can be found at Or 1172, Or 2172, Or 7111, Or 7112, Or 14887, and Add MS 19364. For more information on the author and the text, see Gibb, HOP II, pp. 140-225; İA V, pp. 183-6; Kınalızade, Tezkiretü'ş-şuara, Or 37, f 88r; Latifi, f 45; Şakaik, f 33; Hammer, Geschichte der Osmanlichen Dichtkunst I, p. 151 (where the contents of the present poem are provided in full); Rieu, Catalogue of the Turkish Manuscripts in the British Museum, p. 170; and Öztürk, Zehra, 'Hamdullah Hamdi: Mesnevileriyle tanınan mutasavvıf şair,' Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi. Last accessed : 14 September 2021. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/hamdullah-hamdi. For the Persian version of the story, see Rieu, Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum, p. 645.

Zehra Öztürk, Ḥamdu'llah Ḥamdī's Mesnevī Yūsuf ve Zelīhā: introduction, text, analysis and facsimile (2 vols.), Harvard: Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilisations, 2001.