Jonah and the Whale, folio from a Jami al-Tavarikh (Compendium of Chronicles), c.1400, Ink, opaque watercolour, gold, and silver on paper, 337 x 495 mm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1933, 33.113, www.metmuseum.org
A naked and serene Jonah in a quasi-foetal position emerges from the mouth of a benign-looking fish. Jonah stretches out a hand towards his tunic, proffered by a winged angelic figure at right. This angel casually steps on the back of the fish, in case of any uncertainty about who is in control. The tree just visible at the left of the composition may be intended to evoke the gourd commissioned by God to provide shelter for Jonah’s head (Jonah 4). It may be that the artist wants us to reflect on the incident of the gourd as another occasion on which Jonah was led to consider both God’s mercy and God’s control of history.
This illustration, presenting a blend of different aspects of Jonah’s story from the Qur'an, comes from Rashid al-Din’s Jamiʿ al-Tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles), a two-volume history—of the Mongol dynasty, and of the world. It is a fine example of fourteenth-century Persian illumination, which combines calligraphy with illustration. On Jonah’s body, in Persian script, is a line of poetry from The Gulistan (The Rose Garden) by the thirteenth-century Iranian poet, Sa'adi:
The sun went to the darkness
Jonah went into the fish’s mouth
Jonah (Junus in Arabic), is the only one of the biblical minor prophets mentioned by name in the Qur'an. His story is narrated (in Surah 37) as an example of faithfulness: he was saved because he repented and called on God for deliverance. The current state of the work means that Jonah’s body looks somewhat patchy—rather fitting for the Islamic tradition in which Jonah’s skin was believed to have been afflicted by the acidic gastric juices of the fish’s stomach.
If Rashid al-Din’s Jamiʿ al-Tawarikh was intended to be ‘a demonstration of a divine and universal sovereignty’ (Kamola 2018: 6), the illustration certainly emphasizes this. Jonah’s pose and expression convey the patient acceptance of his experience, and the setting of plants and flowers overlaying the sea is one of calm and ordered beauty. God is in control, bringing new life out of chaos.
References
Kamola, Stefan. 2018. ‘A Sensational and Unique Novelty: The Reception of Rashid al-Din’s World History’, Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, DOI: 10.1080/05786967.2018.1544836
Unknown Iranian artist
Jonah and the Whale, folio from a Jami al-Tavarikh (Compendium of Chronicles), c.1400, Ink, opaque watercolour, gold, and silver on paper, 337 x 495 mm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1933, 33.113, www.metmuseum.org
Faithful Repentance
A naked and serene Jonah in a quasi-foetal position emerges from the mouth of a benign-looking fish. Jonah stretches out a hand towards his tunic, proffered by a winged angelic figure at right. This angel casually steps on the back of the fish, in case of any uncertainty about who is in control. The tree just visible at the left of the composition may be intended to evoke the gourd commissioned by God to provide shelter for Jonah’s head (Jonah 4). It may be that the artist wants us to reflect on the incident of the gourd as another occasion on which Jonah was led to consider both God’s mercy and God’s control of history.
This illustration, presenting a blend of different aspects of Jonah’s story from the Qur'an, comes from Rashid al-Din’s Jamiʿ al-Tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles), a two-volume history—of the Mongol dynasty, and of the world. It is a fine example of fourteenth-century Persian illumination, which combines calligraphy with illustration. On Jonah’s body, in Persian script, is a line of poetry from The Gulistan (The Rose Garden) by the thirteenth-century Iranian poet, Sa'adi:
Jonah (Junus in Arabic), is the only one of the biblical minor prophets mentioned by name in the Qur'an. His story is narrated (in Surah 37) as an example of faithfulness: he was saved because he repented and called on God for deliverance. The current state of the work means that Jonah’s body looks somewhat patchy—rather fitting for the Islamic tradition in which Jonah’s skin was believed to have been afflicted by the acidic gastric juices of the fish’s stomach.
If Rashid al-Din’s Jamiʿ al-Tawarikh was intended to be ‘a demonstration of a divine and universal sovereignty’ (Kamola 2018: 6), the illustration certainly emphasizes this. Jonah’s pose and expression convey the patient acceptance of his experience, and the setting of plants and flowers overlaying the sea is one of calm and ordered beauty. God is in control, bringing new life out of chaos.
References
Kamola, Stefan. 2018. ‘A Sensational and Unique Novelty: The Reception of Rashid al-Din’s World History’, Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, DOI: 10.1080/05786967.2018.1544836
Jonah 2
Revised Standard Version
2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2saying,
“I called to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and thou didst hear my voice.
3For thou didst cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood was round about me;
all thy waves and thy billows
passed over me.
4Then I said, ‘I am cast out
from thy presence;
how shall I again look
upon thy holy temple?’
5The waters closed in over me,
the deep was round about me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
6at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me for ever;
yet thou didst bring up my life from the Pit,
O Lord my God.
7When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord;
and my prayer came to thee,
into thy holy temple.
8Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their true loyalty.
9But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to thee;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Deliverance belongs to the Lord!”
10And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
More Exhibitions
The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
Luke 2:22–33
From Protest to Faith
Habakkuk 1–2
The Healing of the Blind Man
John 9