TIMURID IRAN, EARLY 15TH CENTURY

The Tashrih-i Mansuri, as this text is also known, was dedicated by the author to Timur’s grandson, Pir Muhammad bin ‘Umar Shaykh, who was the ruler of Fars between AH 1394 - 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. The calligraphy, illumination and drawings of ours however, as well as the paper, suggest a 15th century date, making it one of the earliest examples known (Schmitz, 1992, pp.134-35). An anatomical drawing from a similar text, with very similar drawing and colouring, again catalogued as 15th century, is in the Biblilothèque nationale de France (Paris, 1996, p.110). A copy of the Tashrih-i Mansuri copied in Shiraz in around 1450 AD is in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection (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.

Another 15th century copy of the manuscript was sold in these Rooms, 21 April 2016, lot 83. More recently a late 15th/early 16th century copy was sold at Sotheby’s, 1 May 2019, lot 35.