Al-Wakwak is an island, or possibly more than one island, in
medieval Arabic geographical and imaginative literature. Sources variously identify al-Wakwak as representing Japan, Madagascar,
Sumatra or
Java, with others describing it as an island in the
China Sea ruled by a queen with an entirely female population. This painting in watercolor and gold on paper was created in
Mughal India in the early 1600s, and depicts a plant that brings forth animal life in multiple forms, derived from a conflation of medieval Persian and Quranic sources, including descriptions of al-Wakwak as inhabited by half-plant and half-animal creatures. The work is now in the collection of the
Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio.
Painting credit: unknown
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