Sunday, October 31, 2010

Illuminated Manuscript of Collection of prayers for the Prophet Muhammad, The right side of a double page composition featuring the mosque compound in Medina with the tombs of Muhammad, Abū Bakr and ʿUmar, Walters Ms. W.583, fol. 15b

This is a leaf from anelegantly penned and illuminated copy of the well-known collection of prayers for the prophet Muhammad entitled Dalāʾil al-khayrāt and composed by Muḥammad al-Jazūlī (d.877 AH / 1472 CE). Written on paper in Turkish naskh script, this prayer book was probably made in the 11th AH / 17th CE century. It contains an illustration featuring the mosque compound in Medina with the tombs of Muhammad, Abū Bakr and ʿUma

See this manuscript page by page at the Walters Art Museum website:
art.thewalters.org/viewwoa.aspx?id=30971

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Illuminated Manuscript Collected works (Kulliyat), Walters Art Museum Ms. 617, fol. 306a

Illuminated Manuscript Collected works (Kulliyat), Walters Art Museum Ms. 617, fol. 306a

An illuminated and illustrated copy of the collected works of Sa`di (d.691/1292) (Kullīyāt-i Saʿdī) containing, among others, his Gulistān and Bustān. The present manuscript was penned by an anonymous calligrapher in Shiraz (Iran) in 934 AH / 1527 CE. The two poets Saʿdī and Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī.

See this manuscript page by page at the Walters Art Museum website:
art.thewalters.org/viewwoa.aspx?id=22469

Friday, October 29, 2010

Illuminated Manuscript Koran, Walters Art Museum, Ms. W.561, fol. 12b

A leaf from an elegantly calligraphed and illuminated large format codex of the Koran (Qur'an) made for the library of the Mamluk official Aytimish al-Bajāsī (d. 802 AH / 1400 CE). This manuscript, bound in the original beautifully decorated covers, represents volume two (al-juzʾ al-thānī) of a set of original 30 volumes and contains a portion of the 2nd chapter (sūrat al-Baqarah), verses 142-252.

See this manuscript page by page at the Walters Art Museum website:
art.thewalters.org/viewwoa.aspx?id=25339

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Illuminated Manuscript Poem in Honor of the Prophet Muhammad, Walters Art Museum Ms. W.582, fol. 3a

A beautifully calligraphed and illuminated small codex containing the famous poem in honor of the prophet Muhammad, popularly known as Qaṣīdat al-Burdah (“The poem of the Mantle”), composed by Sharaf al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Būṣīrī (d.694 AH / 1294 CE) and executed in a number of scripts, probably in Iran, by Ḥabīb Allāh ibn Dūst Muḥammad al-Khwārizmī in the 11th AH / 17th CE century.

See this manuscript page by page at the Walters Art Museum website:
art.thewalters.org/viewwoa.aspx?id=23935

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Al-Qurʾān from Koran, Walters Art Museum Ms. W.853.II, fol.1b

This manuscripts is volume two (chapters 19-114) of a decorated two-volume set of the Koran (Qur'an) produced in sub-Saharan (West) Africa in the 13th century AH / 19th CE. Written in Sūdānī script on loose leaves, this manuscript is enclosed in two decorated covers and a leather pouch (satchel).

Illuminated Manuscript, Map of the Nile River with various oases on each as far as Sīdī Maʿrūf from Book on Navigation, Walters Art Museum Ms. W.658, fol.310b

Originally composed in 932 AH / 1525 CE and dedicated to Sultan Süleyman I ("The Magnificent"), this great work by Piri Reis (d. 962 AH / 1555 CE) on navigation was later revised and expanded. The present manuscript, made mostly in the late 11th AH / 17th CE century, is based on the later expanded version with some 240 exquisitely executed maps and portolan charts. They include a world map (fol.41a) with the outline of the Americas, as well as coastlines (bays, capes, peninsulas), islands, mountains and cities of the Mediterranean basin and the Black Sea. The work starts with the description of the coastline of Anatolia and the islands of the Aegean Sea, the Peloponnese peninsula and eastern and western coasts of the Adriatic Sea. It then proceeds to describe the western shores of Italy, southern France, Spain, North Africa, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, western Anatolia, various islands north of Crete, Sea of Marmara, Bosporus and the Black Sea. It ends with a map of the shores of the the Caspian Sea (fol.374a).

See this manuscript page by page at the Walters Art Museum website:
art.thewalters.org/viewwoa.aspx?id=19195

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Five poems (quintet), Walters Art Museum, Ms. W.624, fol.35a

This is a deluxe copy of the Quintet (Khamsah) of Amīr Khusraw Dihlavī (d.725 AH /1325 CE). Although now incomplete, this manuscript was penned in nastaʿlīq script by the famous late 16th century Mughal calligrapher Muḥammad Ḥusayn Zarrīn Qalam al-Kashmīrī and decorated by a number of illuminators and painters. Its illustrations are signed by eleven painters: Laʿl (Lāl), Manūhar, Sānwalah, Farrukh, Alīqulī, Dharamdās, Narsing, Jagannāth, Miskīnā, Mukund, and Sūrdās Gujarātī. On the other hand, its headpieces and a medallion are inscribed with the names of Ḥusayn Naqqāsh, Manṣūr Naqqāsh, Khvājah Jān Shīrāzī, and Luṭf Allāh Muẕahhib. The codex has beautifully decorated borders with vegetal, bird, animal motifs and human figures. The figures are portrayed in various traditional activities such as praying, reading and hunting. Here an old Sufi laments his lost youth.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Penicillin in the Palimpsest

The Archimedes Palimpsest suffers from mold, which we needed to investigate. Abigail Quandt had it looked at with an SEM. Here is the result showing the collagen of the parchment, and little mold spores.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Not all of the Archimedes Palimpsest is at The Walters Art Museum:http://ping.fm/PDVnr

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Illuminated Manuscript Map of Cairo, from Book on Navigation, Walters Ms. W.658, fol. 305b

This is our most popular image on Flickr: A view of Cairo from our Piri Reis Atlas. I love the River Nile in Silver, and the Pyramid of Cheops at the top right.

Friday, October 8, 2010

At work you should  only "do stuff that matters". At home you should do lots of stuff that doesn't. 
@WillNoel: The Walters is creating Digital Surrogates of Islamic manuscripts under a CC License. Here are examples: http://ow.ly/2wOob
Illuminated Mughal manuscript of the Memoirs of Babur from walters neh The Story so far http://ow.ly/QOxk
Walters Ottoman Atlas Maps of Med. Piri Reis islamic illuminated manuscript neh - the story so far http://ow.ly/1x6cc