Lot Essay
This work and the Tuhfat al-Shahiyya (lot 62) have been composed by Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi (1236-1311), a prominent astronomer who worked under the direction of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi in the observatory of Maragha. Following al-Tusi's works, Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi improved the representations of the motions of the planets and specifically that of Mercury. He worked at the courts of the Ilkhanid Ghazan Khan (1295-1304) and Uljaytu (1304-1317) and founded a new astronomical observatory in Tabriz. The Nihayat al-Idrak fi Dirayat al-Aflak, completed in 1281, includes four chapters on astronomy, measurement of the Earth, atmospheric phenomena and other subjects. Al-Shirazi's works on Physics are also known for his comprehensive explanation of the rainbow.
Other copies of this work are in the British Library (399) and the Library of the University of Leiden (203) (IRCICA, Mathematicians, Astronomers and other Scholars of Islamic Civilization and their works, Istanbul, 2003, 668).
Other copies of this work are in the British Library (399) and the Library of the University of Leiden (203) (IRCICA, Mathematicians, Astronomers and other Scholars of Islamic Civilization and their works, Istanbul, 2003, 668).