LOT 117
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A double-sided illustrated leaf from Khawass al-ashjar (De Materia Medica) by Dioscorides, Mesopotamia, Iraq, 13th century
作品估价：GBP 20,000 - 30,000
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图录号：
117
拍品名称：
A double-sided illustrated leaf from Khawass al-ashjar (De Materia Medica) by Dioscorides, Mesopotamia, Iraq, 13th century
拍品描述：
Arabic manuscript on paper, written in naskh in black ink, headings in red, each side with an illustration of a plant in gouache, mounted, framed and glazed
29.7 by 19.9cm.
Ex-collection Richard Ettinghausen (1906-79), USA.
This leaf comes from an Arabic translation of the Materia Medica of Dioscorides. Dioscorides, who lived in the first century AD, was a Greek physician attached to the Roman army in Asia Minor and during his travels he studied in detail the plant life of the region. The result was hisDe Materia Medica, an encyclopaedia of some five hundred plants and their medicinal uses. It was a text of enormous significance in the ancient world and was translated into Arabic as early as the reign of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil (847-861 AD). The ninth century was a period of great intellectual activity in Baghdad and other Arab cities, as the dormant wisdom of the ancient Greeks was revived, translated and developed by Arab scholars.
The earliest illustrated Arabic version ofDe Materia Medicawas completed in 1083 AD and contained 620 illustrations (University Library, Leiden, Cod. Or. 289). In the Arab context the text was important not just for its pharmacological and medical information but also for its role in developing the art of manuscript illumination. The Greek versions contained illustrations which were copied and gradually developed by the Arab artists, eventually giving rise to some of the greatest illustrated Arab manuscripts, such as the 1224 version produced at Baghdad, now mostly in the Suleymaniye Library, Istanbul (Ayasofya 3703). Only twelve complete medieval illustrated Arabic versions survive.
Four leaves from the same manuscript as the present leaf are in the Walters Art Museum (acc. no.W.750); two further leaves are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. nos.65.271.1 and 65.271.2); three leaves are in the Aga Khan Museum (inv. nos. AKM7, AKM8, and AKM9), and another in Harvard Art Museums (inv. no.2002.50.140).
29.7 by 19.9cm.
Ex-collection Richard Ettinghausen (1906-79), USA.
This leaf comes from an Arabic translation of the Materia Medica of Dioscorides. Dioscorides, who lived in the first century AD, was a Greek physician attached to the Roman army in Asia Minor and during his travels he studied in detail the plant life of the region. The result was hisDe Materia Medica, an encyclopaedia of some five hundred plants and their medicinal uses. It was a text of enormous significance in the ancient world and was translated into Arabic as early as the reign of the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil (847-861 AD). The ninth century was a period of great intellectual activity in Baghdad and other Arab cities, as the dormant wisdom of the ancient Greeks was revived, translated and developed by Arab scholars.
The earliest illustrated Arabic version ofDe Materia Medicawas completed in 1083 AD and contained 620 illustrations (University Library, Leiden, Cod. Or. 289). In the Arab context the text was important not just for its pharmacological and medical information but also for its role in developing the art of manuscript illumination. The Greek versions contained illustrations which were copied and gradually developed by the Arab artists, eventually giving rise to some of the greatest illustrated Arab manuscripts, such as the 1224 version produced at Baghdad, now mostly in the Suleymaniye Library, Istanbul (Ayasofya 3703). Only twelve complete medieval illustrated Arabic versions survive.
Four leaves from the same manuscript as the present leaf are in the Walters Art Museum (acc. no.W.750); two further leaves are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. nos.65.271.1 and 65.271.2); three leaves are in the Aga Khan Museum (inv. nos. AKM7, AKM8, and AKM9), and another in Harvard Art Museums (inv. no.2002.50.140).