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

W.589

Two works on precious stones

Vernacular: سر الاسرار في معرفة الجواهر والاحجار

Vernacular: كتاب الاحجار

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)

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.

989 AH / 1581 CE (given in numerals only)

Syria (?)

Book

Scientific

The primary language in this manuscript is Arabic.

Paper

Laid paper

Foliation: ii+47+i

Fols. 31a-33a blank

Catchwords: Written obliquely on versos

14.5 cm wide by 23.5 cm high

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

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

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 25
3. Framing lines in red

1. Columns: 1
2. Ruled lines: 25
3. Framing lines in red

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

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

Upper board outside:

1. 
2. Title: Binding
3. Form: Binding

fol. 1a:

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

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

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

Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

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

The Walters Art Museum

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.