Author
Muḥammad b. Maḥmūd b. Aḥmad Ṭūsī Salmānī, Muḥammad b. Maș mūd b. Aĕmad Ausī Salmanī
Publication Date
1388
Type
Other
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Pompeu Fabra University Library
Record ID
cdi_europeana_collections_9200519_ark_12148_btv1b8422994d
Library Location
Available Online
Date
1388
Sample Text
Scanning from an original document. Completed copy [probably in Baghdad, where Sulṭān Aḥmad reigned until 795H.] for the library (kitābhāna) (f. 249v) of Sulṭān Aḥmad Hān [Ğalāyiride; we know a few other ms. copied for him; see B. Robinson, A descriptive catalog of the Persian paintings in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, 1958, p. 11] at the beginning of Rabī‛ I 790H. by Aḥmad Haravī. The f. 1v-2v, by another hand, were redone around the beginning of the 16th century. Encyclopedia of natural sciences, peppered with marvelous anecdotes [written by Muḥ. b. Maḥmūd b. Aḥmad Ṭūsī Salmānī – according to the Kašf al-żunūn -; but the name of the author is perhaps Muḥ. b. Maḥmūd Hamadānī ] The author was the son of an inhabitant of Hamadān and a šāfi‛ite; he had resided in Iṣfahān and – for a long time – in Hamadān (f. 5v, 125v). His work, begun around 555H./1160 and in which mention is made of the year 562H.(/1166-7), is dedicated to the Seljuk Tuġril b. Arslān (556H./1161 – 573H./1177-8). The table of the ten “columns” (rukn) of the book and the details of their divisions into chapters (bāb), subdivided into sections (faṣl), occupies here f. 5v to 11. The first rukn begins at f. 11, the 2nd to f. 29, the 3rd to f. 39v, the 4th to f. 78, the 5th to f. 151, the 6th to f. 161, the 7th to f. 182v, the 8th to f. 217v, the 9th to f. 221 and the 10th to f. 229v. In this copy, folios 1 and 2 were added later to fill the initial gap in the ms. and have a text different from that at the beginning of the ‛Ağāyib found in the other copies.Incipit f. 1v Explicit f. 249v In its current state the ms. contains 254 paintings (some spaces also remained empty at f. 27v and f. 96). [on these paintings, we can refer to E. Blochet, Revue des Bibliothèques, 1898, p. 142-149; E. Blochet, Les Illuminations des Manuscripts Orientals - turkish, arab, persian, Paris, 1926, p. 79-81 and Pl. XXXa-b; E. Blochet, Paintings of oriental manuscripts from the National Library, Paris, 1914-1921, p. 274-5 and 302; E. Blochet “Notices on the manuscripts (...) Marteau collection”, Notices and extracts, XLI, 1923, p. 41-42, 86 and 230; I. Stchoukine, Les Peintures des manuscripts tîmûrides, Paris, 1954, p. 32-33 and Pl.I; A. U. Pope, Survey of Persian Art(...), reprint Tokyo, 1964-5, p. 1838-9 and Pl. 846A and B; B. Gray, The Arts of the Book in Central Asia, 14th-16th centuries, Paris-London, 1979, p. 92 and 114; Esin Atıl, Art of the Arab World, Washington (Freer Gallery), 1975, p. 115-131; F. Richard, “The iconography relating to Eskandar in the djalâyeride manuscript of the ‛Adjâyeb-nâmeh of Tûsi Salmâni from the Bibliothèque nationale de Paris”, Alexander the Great in Western and Near Eastern literature (proceedings of the Paris conference November 27-29, 1997), Nanterre, 1999, p. 77-88 and Pl. h.-t.] [The ms. has been exhibited several times: The Arts of Iran: ancient Persia and Bagdad, Paris, 1938, no. 26, p. 146-7; Mostra d’Arte persiana, Rome, 1956, no. 685; Trésors d’Orient, Paris, 1973, no. 237, p. 91; The Arts of Islam, London (Hayward Gallery), 1976, no. 542; All the Knowledge of the World, Paris, 1996, no. 37, p. 150-1; F. Richard, Persian Splendors, Paris, 1997, no. 33, p. 71]. We can sometimes – it seems – distinguish several styles or periods in paintings [thus f. 148 would be from the 16th century], but the majority of them appear contemporary with the copy.1°.-F.3v.- “Ibrāhīm (Abraham) surrounded by birds”.2°.-F.4.- “Iskandar, injured, has his head protected from the sun by a shield and he dictates a letter to a secretary”.3°.-F.5.- “Sulaymān (Solomon) and Balqīs (the queen of Saba) are seated with, in front of them, the vizier Āṣaf (Asaphe) and the fish to which he restored life; behind them, we see Iblīs (the devil). 4°.-F.11.- “The sleeping gardener and the serpent”. fish and whose tail is double”.8°.-F. 14v.- “An angel with the head and bust of a two-headed horse and the trunk of a serpent”;9°.-F. 15.- “The angel of the south pole, with the body of an elephant and a large human head”.10°.-F. 15v.- “An angel with the bust of a man and the trunk and legs of a bird”.11°.-F. 16.- “The angel Mīkā’īl (Michel) who is “distributor of divine mercies” holding a scale”.12°.-F. 16v.- “The angel ‛Azrā’īl, angel of death, and the companion of Sulaymān”.13°.-F. 19.- “Two idols (the red Buddha and the white Buddha) are each placed at the top of one of the mountains of Bāmiyān (Afghanistan) and, in the center – in a lake where the sun is reflected – we see a fish”.14°.-F. 19v.- “Diagram of solar light”.15°.-F. 20v.- “The tree of Sarandīb [=Ceylon], in the shade of which travelers find refuge to escape the numerous snakes of the island”.16°.-F. 21.- “The sun is transported from East to West on the shoulder of an angel”17°.-F. 21v.- “The sun in the form of a crowned young man, wearing four wings and holding the reins of two horses on which he stands”.18°.-F. 22.- “Jupiter”.19°.-F. 22v.- “Mars”.20°.-F. 23.- “Venus”.21°.-F. 23v.- “Mercury”.22°.-F. 24.- “The conjunction of the ram: a two-headed sheep turned towards a seated young man and a man dressed in red holding a club”.23°.-F. 24v.- “The conjunction of the bull: an ox cut in two is followed by a young man holding a circle and a woman with four locks of hair”.24°.-F. 25.- “The conjunction of Gemini: near the twins, a man, placed under a dragon, has two dragons on his shoulders”.25°.-F. 25v.- “The conjunction of Cancer: a naked man holds a knife near the crab while a young man looks at them”.26°.-F. 26.- “The conjunction of Leo: the lion is next to a fire, followed by a young man with two heads”.27°.-F. 26.- “The conjunction of the Virgin: the virgin has a crown, holds an ear of wheat, a man turns his back to her and a woman bows”.28°.-F. 26v.- “The conjunction of Libra: a man on his knees holds a scale and another leans on a stick while the sun sends rays of fire”.29°.-F. 27.- “The conjunction of Scorpio: an adolescent sleeping near the scorpion”.30°.-F. 27.- “The conjunction of Sagittarius: Sagittarius aims at an erect snake”.[in f. 27v the painting was not done]31°.-F. 28.- “The conjunction of Capricorn: Capricorn is followed by an old man”.32°.-F. 28.- “The conjunction of Aquarius: a young man takes a wineskin from a well and behind him is a naked old man.” 33°.-F. 28v.- “The conjunction of Pisces: in front of two fish head to tail is a naked child, head down and a crowned woman is seated”.34°.-F. 30v.- “A Zoroastrian worships the sacred fire in a pyrea (Zoroastrian temple of Fire)”.35°.-F. 31.- “The sacred fire of the pyrea of Harnīn in the land of ‛Ans”.36°.-F. 33.- “A man is praying in front of a statue in the church of Mīnā, in Egypt, where the monks have installed a device which allows the statues to be put into motion”.37°.-F. 33v.- “In the church of Kanīsat al-Nār, on the borders of Fārs, a construction contains a speaking fire with which the monks converse; in fact a man is hidden behind and speaks using a pipe”.38°.-F. 36.- “A circle indicates how the air heats up due to the movement of the lunar sky”.39°.-F. 38.- “The House of Winds located near Ġand (Bādhāna-i Ġandī), which has a door to the West and one to the East and whose guardians can let the wind escape if necessary”.40°.-F. 39.- “The dragon killed by the force of a cloud and whose corpse reached the land of Gog and Magog, where the inhabitants examined it”.41°.-F. 42v.- “Kisrà (Husraw, or Chosroès) Anuširvān is located on the dike that he built in the Caspian (Hazar Sea), to fight against the Turks”.42°.-F. 45.- “The Caspian or Sea of the Khazars (Hazar)”.43°.-F. 46.- “The Mediterranean, or Sea of Rūm (Byzantium)”.44°.-F. 46v.- “The Sea of Zanzibar (Zanğ) where King Kay Husraw once saw, in the place called Fam al-asad (“the Mouth of the Lion”), marine animals with the heads of goats and fish with the heads of sea monsters”.45°.-F. 47.- “The bridge with seven arches and a man holding a talisman intended to protect against floods and which he immerses in the water of the Sayhān (the Syr Darya, in Transoxiana)”.46°.-F. 49v.- “The Persian Gulf”.47°.-F. 50.- “The boat of Husraw Anuširvān (Kisrà) arrives near an island, where the water crosses a rock in the shape of a lion, from the mouth of which it emerges with a crash”.48°.-F. 51v.- “On an island in the Mediterranean, a man – a pearl fisherman – dives in the presence and on the orders of Marwān [the governor of Cordoba?] into the “river of the monkeys” and removes jars from which escape the demons that Sulaymān had locked up there; the chief of the monkeys brings a tablet written by Sulaymān and the demons return to the water”.49°.-F. 56.- “The division of the Earth into four parts”.50°.-F. 57.- “The division of the Earth into three made by Nūḥ (Noah) for his three sons”.51°.-F. 57v.- “Another division of the Earth into seven [by climates]”.52°.-F.58.- “The Earth in its entirety”.53°.-F.60.- “The mountain of Ahzar (that is to say Qāf), in the part of the world which is in darkness; Iskandar speaks there with the angel who is its guardian”.54°.-F.67.- “Man sitting on a vulture with a stick in his hand (figure to be engraved on the crystal to make a talisman)”.55°.-F. 68.- “Man holding a spear and a shield (figure to be engraved on amethyst)”.56°.-F. 68v.- “A hybrid bull with a whip (figure to be engraved on a talisman)”.57°.-F. 69v.- “A scorpion (figure to be engraved on the stone of Iṣfahān)”.58°.-F. 70v.- “A crowned and winged man holding a jar (figure to be engraved on white marble)”.59°.-F. 72v.- “A seated woman holding a child (figure to be engraved on
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