The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Vertically oriented painting depicting Joseph standing over Zulaykha. Zulaykha, a woman with light skin tone, lays, eyes closed, against two rectangular pillows on a carpet, all floral patterned. Joseph, a man with light skin tone, stands on our left, looking at her, with a gold band behind his head as two angels with light skin tones hover against a cloudy night sky, gold rays extending from their hands towards Joseph.

The dream of Zulaykha, from the Amber Album

c. 1670

India, Mughal, 17th century

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Page: 32 x 24.4 cm (12 5/8 x 9 5/8 in.)
Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection 2013.332
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Joseph, the man of Zulaykha’s dreams, is dressed as a Mughal prince.

Description

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.
  • ?– November 2006
    (Francesca Galloway, London, England, sold to Catherine Glynn Benkaim)
    2006–2013
    Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer, Beverly Hills, CA, partial sale and gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2013–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Francesca Galloway Gallery. Treasures from India. London: Francesca Galloway, 2006. Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 16
    Aitken, Molly Emma. The Intelligence of Tradition in Rajput Court Painting. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010. Reproduced: fig. 2.34
    Mace, Sonya Rhie, Mohsen Ashtiany, Catherine Glynn, Pedro Moura Carvalho, Marcus Fraser, and Ruby Lal. Mughal Paintings: Art and Stories: the Cleveland Museum of Art. London: D Giles Limited, 2016. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 64, p. 82
    "Exhibitions" Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 56, no. 5 (September/October 2016): 4. Reproduced: p. 4 archive.org
  • Art and Stories from Mughal India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 31-October 23, 2016).
  • {{cite web|title=The dream of Zulaykha, from the Amber Album|url=false|author=|year=c. 1670|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2013.332