Aisha, Widow of the Prophet Muhammad, at the Battle of the Camel, from a dispersed Assembly of Histories (Majma’ al-Tawarikh) manuscript

Artist: Unknown

ca. 1425

Asian Art

The Battle of the Camel, also known as the Battle of Jamel—a historic confrontation on the outskirts of the Iraqi city of Basra between forces allied with the prophet Muhammad’s widow Aisha and Ali ibn Ali Talib, his cousin and son-in-law—was one of several clashes between different factions over who would succeed Muhammad as religious and secular leader. Here, Aisha is seated in a palanquin on the back of a camel, her two principal allies before her, and she faces Ali, who rides a horse. Ali’s forces won this battle, and he ruled the caliphate from 656 C.E. until his assassination in 661 C.E. He served as both the first Shia Imam as well as the fourth in the Sunni lineage.

Medium

Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

Dimensions

sheet: 16 15/16 × 11 5/16 in. (43 × 28.7 cm)
image: 13 1/4 × 8 3/4 in. (33.7 × 22.3 cm)
other (Painting): 5 7/16 × 8 11/16 in. (13.8 × 22.1 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Mary Burns Foss

Accession Number

1983.94.1

Geography
Period

Timurid dynasty (1370–1507)

Classification
Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance

Provenance

Foss # W. 1530 I I L 43.558 Mary Burns Foss (Mrs. Wilson P. Foss Jr.) (1896–1987); gift in 1983 to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
Bibliography
  • Reza Mohamad Ghiasian, "The “Historical Style” of Painting for Shahrukh and Its Revival in the Dispersed Manuscript of Majma? al-Tawarikh," Iranian Studies 48 no. 6 (2015), 899
Object copyright
Additional information

Object/Work type

warfare

Subject

battles women

Technical metadata and APIs

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