The Seduction of Yusuf

Kamāl ud-Dīn Behzād was the greatest painter of the Timurid court at Herat. His illustration for the Yusuf and Zulaykha story shows Zulaykha chasing Yusuf through a palace whose stairs, doors and levels don't fit together — a lattice of geometric fantasy. It's used as a demonstration of the Sufi idea that lust makes the world illegible. Now at the National Library of Egypt, Cairo. Now at National Library of Egypt, Cairo @national_library_of_egypt