Introduction

Ifrits are a powerful type of demon in Islamic culture  and are terrifying and malevolent supernatural creatures. In the Fisherman and the demon in One thousand and one nights, a fisherman helps the demon, and is then threatened with death by the wrathful demon. Eventually the fisherman tricks the demon back into the jar and tells him a story of King Yunan and the Sage Duban, in which the Sage's kindness was initially repaid with death but the king eventually is punished for his inhumane actions. Once the demon has been released from the jar, he chooses to forgive the fisherman after learning his lesson from the tale.

The passage that this exhibit will be focusing on comes from the One Thousand and One Nights in the Norton Anthology of World Literature. The passage comes from the story of the fisherman and the demon, which was narrated by Scheherazade to Shahryar. This passage underscores the monstrosity of the jinn during the interaction between the fisherman and the jinni.

The artefacts that I have chosen in this exhibit is 'Demon in chains'. This artefact is accompanied by a picture of an albarello and a portrait of a scene from The Fisherman and the Demon. The connection between the artefact and the text in their portrayal of the monster, that have both been captured by humans, will be closely examined in this exhibit. Further, I will be examining the portrayal of the Ifrit as the ‘ethnic other’ in both the artefact and the passage.