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Walters Ms. W.589, Two works on precious stones

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Shelf mark

W.589


Manuscript

Two works on precious stones


Text title
Sirr al-asrār fī maʿrifat al-jawāhir wa-al-aḥjār

Vernacular: سر الاسرار في معرفة الجواهر والاحجار

Kitāb al-aḥjār

Vernacular: كتاب الاحجار


Author

As-written name: Jamāl al-Dīn al-Tifāshī

Name, in vernacular: جمال الدين التفاشي

Note: Author may be the same as Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf al-Tifāshī (d. 651 AH / 1253 CE) (see Brockelmann, Geschichte, 1: 652)


Abstract

This codex contains two short works on precious stones ascribed to Jamāl al-Dīn al-Tifāshī and Aristotle. The piece attributed to Aristotle is likely to be a paraphrase or extract from that author's Liber mineralium (or Lapidarius). This anonymous Ottoman copy was written in 989 AH / 1581 CE, possibly in Syria.


Date

989 AH / 1581 CE (given in numerals only)


Origin

Syria (?)


Form

Book


Genre

Scientific


Language:

The primary language in this manuscript is Arabic.


Support material

Paper

Laid paper


Extent

Foliation: ii+47+i

Fols. 31a-33a blank


Collation

Catchwords: Written obliquely on versos


Dimensions

14.5 cm wide by 23.5 cm high


Written surface

fols. 1a - 32b: 8.5 cm wide by 16.5 cm high

fols. 33b - 47b: 14.5 cm wide by 23.5 cm high


Layout
fols. 1a - 32b:
  1. Columns: 1
  2. Ruled lines: 25
  3. Framing lines in red
fols. 33b - 47b:
  1. Columns: 1
  2. Ruled lines: 25
  3. Framing lines in red

Contents:
fols. 1a - 32b:
  1. Title: Sirr al-asrār fī maʿrifat al-jawāhir wa-al-aḥjār
  2. Author: Jamāl al-Dīn al-Tifāshī
  3. Incipit: الحمد لله العلي المجيد القوي الشديد وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد ...
  4. Text note: Occasional corrections in margins
  5. Hand note: Written in partly pointed naskh script in black ink with rubrics and incidentals in red
  6. Decoration note: Illuminated titlepiece and medallion; framing lines in red
fols. 33b - 47b:
  1. Title: Kitāb al-aḥjār
  2. Incipit: قال الحكيم ارسطوطاليس اعلم الجوهر عام فكبيره الدر ...
  3. Text note: Occasional corrections in margins
  4. Hand note: Written in partly pointed naskh script in black ink with rubrics and incidentals in red
  5. Decoration note: Illuminated headpiece

Decoration:

Upper board outside:

  1. W.589, Upper board outside
  2. Title: Binding
  3. Form: Binding

fol. 1a:

  1. W.589, fol. 1a
  2. Title: Illuminated titlepiece and medallion
  3. Form: Titlepiece; medallion
  4. Label: This page has an illuminated titlepiece in the upper panel and an authorship statement in the central medallion.

fol. 33b:

  1. W.589, fol. 33b
  2. Title: Illuminated headpiece
  3. Form: Headpiece
  4. Label: This illuminated headpiece is inscribed with the doxological formula (basmalah) in the rectangular panel.

Binding

The binding is not original.

Red goatskin (with flap); central lobed oval, pendants, and cornerpieces; doublures of brown goatskin with gold-painted central lobed oval


Provenance

Erased bequest (waqf) seal, most probably of the Grand Vizier ʿAlī Pāshā; shelf mark 1830 or 8830 (fol. 1a)


Acquisition

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest


Contributors

Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam

Catalogers: Landau, Amy; Smith, Sita

Editor: Bockrath, Diane

Conservators: Jewell, Stephanie; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Barrera, Christina; Emery, Doug; Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William; Simpson, Shreve; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara


Publisher

The Walters Art Museum


License

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.