The martyrdom of the prophet Zakariya, who, taking refuge in a tree, was sawn in half by two men.
Year: 1605 - 1610
From: This album of 104 folios known as the Clive Album
Location: London, V&A Museum
External link: collections.vam.ac.uk
Edited by: Chiara Petrolini
Related Documents:
The story of the prophet Zakariya (a conflation of Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, and the Old Testament prophet Zachariah), who according to Muslim legend died a martyr's death. Escaping his pursuers by hiding in a tree that miraculously opened to admit him, Zakariya was betrayed by Iblis, the devil, who pointed out the hem of the prophet's cloak protruding from the trunk. The devil's forces sawed the tree apart and with it Zakariya, whose saintly aura is shown as flames bursting among the leaves. (1550-1560)
from: from a dispersed copy of the Falnama (Book of Omens)
Worcester Art Museum
Ibrâhîm [Abraham] holding a knife is about to sacrifice his son Ismâ'îl (Ishmael) who kneels before him (1580)
from: Qisas al-Anbiyâ [Qazvin?]
The New York Public Library, Spencer Coll. Persian MS. 46
Martyrdom of Zakariya (XVI)
from: ishâq nishâbûrî, qisas-i qur'ân. [Qazvin, Iran]
Paris, BnF, Persan 54, fol. 144v
The Martyrdom of Zakarîyâ (Zacharias), the father of John the Baptist, who is killed when the tree in which he is hiding is sawn in two (c. 1580)
from: Nīsābūrī, Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn Manṣūr, Qisas al-Anbiyâ [Qazvin?]
The New York Public Library, Spencer Coll. Persian MS. 46, fol. 144
Zacharias sawn in half in a tree (1570-1580)
from: Qazwin, Iran
Dallas Museum of Art (Keir Collection), Dallas K.1.2014.1166 (III.278) folio: 231r