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Lot Essay
The Tashrih-i Mansuri, as this text is known, was dedicated by the author to Timur’s grandson, Ziya’ al-Din Pir Muhammad Bahadur Khan, 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 although since she wrote on the subject a copy, possibly in the hand of the author and dated AH 813/1411 AD, was bought by the Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection from Sam Fogg (https://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/ljs/PageLevel/index.cfm?option=view=ljs049). The calligraphy, illumination and drawings of ours, as well as the paper, suggest a 15th century date, making it amongst the earliest examples known (Barbara Schmitz, Islamic Manuscripts in the New York Public Library, New York, 1992, pp.134-35). An anatomical drawing from a similar text, with very similar drawing and colouring and again catalogued as 15th century is in the Biblilothèque nationale de France (published in La medicine au temps des califes, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1996, p.110). 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 other copies of the work are in the National Library of Medicine, Maryland (MS P.18 and P.19), another is in the Aga Khan Museum (AKM525) and three further copies are said to be in the British Museum. An 18th century Indian copy was sold at Sotheby’s, 8 October 2008, lot 45. More recently, a 15th century copy was sold in these Rooms, 23 April 2015, lot 16. Of those listed, ours is notable in that it is the largest copy.
Two other copies of the work are in the National Library of Medicine, Maryland (MS P.18 and P.19), another is in the Aga Khan Museum (AKM525) and three further copies are said to be in the British Museum. An 18th century Indian copy was sold at Sotheby’s, 8 October 2008, lot 45. More recently, a 15th century copy was sold in these Rooms, 23 April 2015, lot 16. Of those listed, ours is notable in that it is the largest copy.