Fish Imagery in Art 82: Jonah and the Fish

Abstract

The Prophet Jonah’s story, as told in the Bible and the Koran, has been illustrated many times, especially his being swallowed by a whale,a fish or some mythical sea monster. Inasmuch as the historical texts themselves do not agree as to the taxon involved and provide nodescriptive information except that the creature was marine and of large size, zoologists, cryptozoologists, and art historians seem to havebeen limited to commenting on possible sources of various renditions.This painting is slightly less than 48cm wide and is an Islamic miniature. It was painted in Persia ca. 1400. It is one of many paintingsmade by unnamed artists to illustrate some copies of Jami‘ al-Tawarikh(or ‘World History’), a classic work that includes episodes fromthe Bible, Koran, and life of Buddha. A translation of the texts on Jonah’s arms reads: ‘The disk of the sun entered into darkness’ on hisleft arm and ‘Jonah entered the mouth of the fish’ on his right; the former, which was taken from the Gulistan