The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
This is an illuminated and illustrated copy of a Persian version of the famous ʿAjā’ib al-makhlūqāt (Wonders of creation) by Zakariyāʾ al-Qazwīnī (d. 682 AH / 1283 CE), composed by Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī (fl. sixth century AH / twelfth CE). The text, in black nastaʿlīq script, may have been written by an Iranian scribe in the tenth century AH / sixteenth CE in Ottoman Turkey. It opens with an illuminated medallion inscribed with the author's name (fol. 1a), followed by a double-page illuminated incipit (fols. 1b-2a). The text is illustrated with one hundred eighty-one paintings of different sizes that offer an interesting iconography for Ṭūsī manuscripts. The red leather binding is not contemporary with the manuscript and probably dates to the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE.
Written in nastaʿlīq script in black, red, and gold ink
Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam
Cataloger: Landau, Amy
Cataloger: Smith, Sita
Copy editor: Bockrath, Diane
Contributor: Barrera, Christina
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Herbert, Lynley
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Simpson, Shreve
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Contributor: Valle, Chiara
Conservator: Jewell, Stephanie
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
Storey, C. A. Persian Literature: A Bio-Bibliographical Survey, Vol. 2. (London: Luzac, 1927- ), 121-2.
Rührdanz, Karin. “An Ottoman Illustrated Version of Muhammad al-Tusi’s Aja’ib al-Makhluqat.” Arab Historical Review for Ottoman Studies 19/20 (1999): 455-475.
Richard, Francis. Splendeurs persanes: manuscrits du XIIe au XVIIe siècle. (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1997), no. 33.
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
Turkey
10th century AH / 16th CE
book
Non-original Binding
Probably thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE; red leather with flap; blind-tooled central oval
The primary language in this manuscript is Persian. The secondary language of this manuscript is Arabic.
Old shelf mark in Hindu-Arabic numerals 1834 inscribed on the tail-edge and below an erased seal on fol. 1a
Ex libris Henry Walters on the upper board inside
Turkey
10th century AH / 16th CE
book
The primary language in this manuscript is Persian. The secondary language of this manuscript is Arabic.
Old shelf mark in Hindu-Arabic numerals 1834 inscribed on the tail-edge and below an erased seal on fol. 1a
Ex libris Henry Walters on the upper board inside
This is an illuminated and illustrated copy of a Persian version of the famous ʿAjā’ib al-makhlūqāt (Wonders of creation) by Zakariyāʾ al-Qazwīnī (d. 682 AH / 1283 CE), composed by Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī (fl. sixth century AH / twelfth CE). The text, in black nastaʿlīq script, may have been written by an Iranian scribe in the tenth century AH / sixteenth CE in Ottoman Turkey. It opens with an illuminated medallion inscribed with the author's name (fol. 1a), followed by a double-page illuminated incipit (fols. 1b-2a). The text is illustrated with one hundred eighty-one paintings of different sizes that offer an interesting iconography for Ṭūsī manuscripts. The red leather binding is not contemporary with the manuscript and probably dates to the thirteenth century AH / nineteenth CE.
Written in nastaʿlīq script in black, red, and gold ink
Principal cataloger: Gacek, Adam
Cataloger: Landau, Amy
Cataloger: Smith, Sita
Copy editor: Bockrath, Diane
Contributor: Barrera, Christina
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Herbert, Lynley
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Simpson, Shreve
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Contributor: Valle, Chiara
Conservator: Jewell, Stephanie
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
Storey, C. A. Persian Literature: A Bio-Bibliographical Survey, Vol. 2. (London: Luzac, 1927- ), 121-2.
Rührdanz, Karin. “An Ottoman Illustrated Version of Muhammad al-Tusi’s Aja’ib al-Makhluqat.” Arab Historical Review for Ottoman Studies 19/20 (1999): 455-475.
Richard, Francis. Splendeurs persanes: manuscrits du XIIe au XVIIe siècle. (Paris: Bibliothèque nationale, 1997), no. 33.
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
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