.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The Tashrih-i Mansuri was dedicated by its author Mansur bin Muhammad bin Ahmad bin Yusuf bin Faqir Ilyas (fl. 15th century) to Timur’s grandson, Pir Muhammad bin ‘Umar Shaykh, who was the ruler of Fars between 1394 and 1409. It is divided into chapters, which discuss the bones, nervous system, muscles, veins, arteries, organs, and the development of the embryo. According to Barbara Schmitz, the earliest known dated copies are from the 1670s and 80s (Barbara Schmitz, Islamic Manuscripts in the New York Public Library, New York, 1992, pp.134-35). A copy of the Tashrih-i Mansuri copied in Shiraz in around 1450 is in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection (MSS387; L’Age d’or des sciences arabes, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 2005, no.91, p.167). Like ours the figures which illustrate the skeleton and the nervous system in the Khalili manuscript are shown from behind, with the head lifted up so that the mouth is at the top of the page. The other figures are all represented straight on. Two 15th century copies of the manuscript were sold at Sotheby’s, 19 April 1983, lot 189 and Christie's, King Street, 23 April 2015, lot 16. An 18th century Indian copy was sold at Sotheby’s, 8 October 2008, lot 45.