.jpg?w=1)
拍品專文
The author of this remarkable manuscript is at present uncertain. Brockelmann records a work with the longer title of Ghara'ib al-funun wa mulah al-'uyun wa nuzhat al-'ishaq al-talib al-mustaq fi'l falak wa'l aqalim written by Abdalgani ibn Husam al-Din Ahmad al-'Arabani al-Misri. A small number copies of this work are given in libraries in the Bodleian, Gotha, Algeria, Ambrosiana and Mosul (Brocklemann, C: GAL, S.II, pp.159-60).
The date of the author's death has been given as 854/1450. However, the present manuscript is written on paper which dates to the early 14th century. It is paper made on a grass mould with 6-7 laid lines per
centimetre from Egypt, Syria or Iraq. It seems likely therefore, that
this is a different work by an anonymous author, and possibly a unique work.
The early 14th century saw something of a renaissance of book painting in the Arab world under the Mamluks. Classical Arabic texts such as the Maqamat of al-Hariri and the Automata of al-Jazari became popular again as subjects for illustration, but texts on botany, zoology and related sciences were also popular.
Most of the illustrations listed below consist of maps that are highly schematic. Two folios depicting the waq waq tree are comparable to examples of the Baghdad school of painting of a century earlier. They resemble the trees that appear in the Maqamat of al-Hariri painted in 634/1237 though they are considerably less fine in their realisation (Ettinghausen,R.: Arab painting, New York, 1977, p. 122). The Kalila wa Dimna in the Bodleian Library in Oxford copied in 1354 AD in Mamluk Egypt or Syria has many illustrations of animals and stylised trees, finer in execution than those in the present manuscript, but similar in design and colouring (Atil, E.: Kalila wa Dimna, Washington, 1981).
The map on folios 27b and 28a resembles the World Map of the 12th century geographer al-Idrisi. Other 14th century examples of this map are reproduced in Harley, J.B. and Woodward, D.: Cartography in the traditional Islamic and South Asian societies, Chicago, 1992, p.161. The codex is remarkable for the profusion of coloured illustrations of astronomical and geographical interest. They are identified as follows:
Folios 2b. and 3a.Diagram of the structure of the heavens with the earth in the centre. The seven climes are shown surrounded by the lunar mansions, fixed stars and signs of the zodiac.
Folio 5b Diagram of the the chords of the orbits of the five planets and their corresponding zodiacal signs.
Folios 11b-12b Three tables of stars and parts of constellations.
Folios 13b-14b Small drawings of comets.
Folios 15b and 16a Small drawings of meteors.
Folios 18a-21b Diagrams of the lunar mansions and zodiacal triplicities.
Folios 23b and 24a Bifolium map of the inhabited quarters of the World. Africa in gouache heightened with silver
Folio 26b and 27a Two miniatures of the waq waq tree, one sprouting animal heads, the other sprouting human figures.
Folios 27b and 28a A map of the World showing the seas and rivers, with waq waq trees.
Folios 29b and 30a A bifolium map of the Indian Ocean (?) showing the principal islands as circles.
Folios 30b and 31a A map of the Mediterranean or Western Sea
Folio 31b A map of the Caspian Sea
Folio 32b and 33a A map of one of the largest islands in these seas, showing mountains and castles.
Folio 34a The palaces of the Imams
Folio 35b and 36a A plan of a city
Folio 36b Schematic plan of Cyprus
Folio 38a Unidentified plan
Folio 40a-41a The principal lakes of the World
Folio 42a Plan of the river Nile Folio 42b Plan of the river Euphrates
Folio 43a Plan of the river Tigris
Folio 43b Plan of the river Oxus
Folio 44a Plan of the river Jaxartus
(Folio 42 has been wrongly bound into the manuscript and appears as the last folio)
The date of the author's death has been given as 854/1450. However, the present manuscript is written on paper which dates to the early 14th century. It is paper made on a grass mould with 6-7 laid lines per
centimetre from Egypt, Syria or Iraq. It seems likely therefore, that
this is a different work by an anonymous author, and possibly a unique work.
The early 14th century saw something of a renaissance of book painting in the Arab world under the Mamluks. Classical Arabic texts such as the Maqamat of al-Hariri and the Automata of al-Jazari became popular again as subjects for illustration, but texts on botany, zoology and related sciences were also popular.
Most of the illustrations listed below consist of maps that are highly schematic. Two folios depicting the waq waq tree are comparable to examples of the Baghdad school of painting of a century earlier. They resemble the trees that appear in the Maqamat of al-Hariri painted in 634/1237 though they are considerably less fine in their realisation (Ettinghausen,R.: Arab painting, New York, 1977, p. 122). The Kalila wa Dimna in the Bodleian Library in Oxford copied in 1354 AD in Mamluk Egypt or Syria has many illustrations of animals and stylised trees, finer in execution than those in the present manuscript, but similar in design and colouring (Atil, E.: Kalila wa Dimna, Washington, 1981).
The map on folios 27b and 28a resembles the World Map of the 12th century geographer al-Idrisi. Other 14th century examples of this map are reproduced in Harley, J.B. and Woodward, D.: Cartography in the traditional Islamic and South Asian societies, Chicago, 1992, p.161. The codex is remarkable for the profusion of coloured illustrations of astronomical and geographical interest. They are identified as follows:
Folios 2b. and 3a.Diagram of the structure of the heavens with the earth in the centre. The seven climes are shown surrounded by the lunar mansions, fixed stars and signs of the zodiac.
Folio 5b Diagram of the the chords of the orbits of the five planets and their corresponding zodiacal signs.
Folios 11b-12b Three tables of stars and parts of constellations.
Folios 13b-14b Small drawings of comets.
Folios 15b and 16a Small drawings of meteors.
Folios 18a-21b Diagrams of the lunar mansions and zodiacal triplicities.
Folios 23b and 24a Bifolium map of the inhabited quarters of the World. Africa in gouache heightened with silver
Folio 26b and 27a Two miniatures of the waq waq tree, one sprouting animal heads, the other sprouting human figures.
Folios 27b and 28a A map of the World showing the seas and rivers, with waq waq trees.
Folios 29b and 30a A bifolium map of the Indian Ocean (?) showing the principal islands as circles.
Folios 30b and 31a A map of the Mediterranean or Western Sea
Folio 31b A map of the Caspian Sea
Folio 32b and 33a A map of one of the largest islands in these seas, showing mountains and castles.
Folio 34a The palaces of the Imams
Folio 35b and 36a A plan of a city
Folio 36b Schematic plan of Cyprus
Folio 38a Unidentified plan
Folio 40a-41a The principal lakes of the World
Folio 42a Plan of the river Nile Folio 42b Plan of the river Euphrates
Folio 43a Plan of the river Tigris
Folio 43b Plan of the river Oxus
Folio 44a Plan of the river Jaxartus
(Folio 42 has been wrongly bound into the manuscript and appears as the last folio)