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拍品專文
These folios come from a profusely illustrated Persian translation of the remarkable work of the famous polymath al-Jazari's text on automata written in Arabic and completed in 1206 AD. The Arabic original exists under various titles which include the Arabic word 'hiyal' which comes from the root meaning either a 'stratagem' or even a 'ruse'. The mechanical devices illustrated in our copy are principally concerned with various points of irrigation and the movement of water. There are also other more amusing automata which were devised more out of fascination for complicated mechanical structure than a sense of the practical.
The bold blocks of colour give the illustration a sense of graphic strength common to many of the illustrated copies of al-Jazari's text. A closely related copy in Persian commissioned by Nasir Shah, the Sultan of Mandu dated to the equivalent of 1509 shares this similar strong colour palette (Jerry Losty, The Art of the Book in India, London 1982, no. 43, p.68). Our manuscript and the Mandu copy also share similar Deccani figural characteristics. The illustration in our manuscript of the nobleman with three musicians depicts the figures in a distinctive three quarter profile. The figures in our manuscript are illustrated wearing a variety of clothing which includes garments such as front opening jamas with slightly conical turbans associated with the Deccan; and also in more Mughal style shorter jamas and pagris from the Akbar era. This variety of both Deccani and Mughal costumes would suggest that our manuscript is slightly later in date than the Mandu copy. The illustrations in our manuscript are much closer to another Persian translation in the Chester Beatty Library of the same work attributed by Linda York Leach as sub-Imperial Mughal dated to circa 1585-90 (Linda York Leach, Mughal and other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, London, 1995, No. 5.33). In particular the depiction of the Mahout of the elephant water-clock is almost identical to that found in the Chester Beatty.
For a further discussion on al-Jazari's book of Ingenious devices and its context see Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Islamic Science: An Illustrated Study, London, 1976, pp. 145-47.
The bold blocks of colour give the illustration a sense of graphic strength common to many of the illustrated copies of al-Jazari's text. A closely related copy in Persian commissioned by Nasir Shah, the Sultan of Mandu dated to the equivalent of 1509 shares this similar strong colour palette (Jerry Losty, The Art of the Book in India, London 1982, no. 43, p.68). Our manuscript and the Mandu copy also share similar Deccani figural characteristics. The illustration in our manuscript of the nobleman with three musicians depicts the figures in a distinctive three quarter profile. The figures in our manuscript are illustrated wearing a variety of clothing which includes garments such as front opening jamas with slightly conical turbans associated with the Deccan; and also in more Mughal style shorter jamas and pagris from the Akbar era. This variety of both Deccani and Mughal costumes would suggest that our manuscript is slightly later in date than the Mandu copy. The illustrations in our manuscript are much closer to another Persian translation in the Chester Beatty Library of the same work attributed by Linda York Leach as sub-Imperial Mughal dated to circa 1585-90 (Linda York Leach, Mughal and other Indian Paintings from the Chester Beatty Library, London, 1995, No. 5.33). In particular the depiction of the Mahout of the elephant water-clock is almost identical to that found in the Chester Beatty.
For a further discussion on al-Jazari's book of Ingenious devices and its context see Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Islamic Science: An Illustrated Study, London, 1976, pp. 145-47.