Publication Date
The first half of the sixteenth century
Publication Place
Maybe Türkiye -
Austrian National Library (ANL)
Subject
Ink, colors and gold on Venetian paper, layout in large ta'liq script, 15 lines per page.
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Physical Dimensions
310 × 215 مم (220 × 140 مم) ، 157 صفحة
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
Mixtus 344
Record ID
object;EPM;at;Mus24;15;ar
Library Location
Austrian National Library (ANL)
Date
The first half of the sixteenth century
Notes
The planning treatise, called the Translation of Paths and Kingdoms, was written in Arabic by Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Muhammad al-Farsi al-Istakhri (c. 340 AH/951-2 AD), one of the most famous geographers. This Persian copy from the sixteenth century was called Kitāb Sur al-Iqālīm, and it may have been made in Constantinople or another center of Ottoman power in the first half of the sixteenth century. The copyist’s information does not give anything about the context of the manuscript except that the work is incorrectly attributed to Nasr al-Din al-Tusi, who was a thirteenth-century astronomer and theologian. On page 1a&157b there are two almond-shaped seals of an Ottoman Turkish tughra by the name of Ahmad Muzaffarkhān, which are vaguely identifiable. It shows that the manuscript must have been part of the Ottoman collections before it reached the Austrian National Library in 1920/30. The text opens with a typical illumination panel (title/sarloh) and includes drawings of 21 full-page maps, brightly colored miniatures representing decorative motifs, figures and elements of scenes, and the quality of the drawings can be said to have been made by a Persian painter who immigrated to Turkey. The painter may also have used ancient models that are particularly similar to the manuscript from the 15th century, perhaps originally from Shiraz, located in the Topkapi Museum (under number B. 334).
Sample Text
Theresa Zischkin “Abu Ishaq Ibrahim bin Muhammad Al-Farisi Al-Istakhri, Book of Pictures of Regions” in Discover Islamic Art Collections. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;at;Mus24;15;ar
Cilt
The reddish-brown leather binding includes a flap, and possesses a central medallion and corner spandrels, cut out and executed with gold relief stamping in a floral pattern. The doublures are made of light brown leather with a medallion, two extending pendants and corner spandrels depicted. These motifs are filled with a dense arabesque work in delicate brown leather filigree on a white background. The binding was likely created in 16th-century Turkey.
Bu sayfanın künyesi
Prepared by:Theresa ZISCHKIN
Seçili bibliyografya
Duda, Dorothea,Islamische Handschriften I. Persische Handschriften, Die illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, vol. 4, Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1983: 176-180. Rapoport, Yossef,Islamic Maps, Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2020.
