Two works onprecious stones, Walters Art Museum MS. W.589

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcodePublished 2009

The Walters Art Museum600 N. Charles StreetBaltimore, Maryland

21201http://www.thewalters.org/

This document is a digital facsimile of a manuscript belonging to the Walters Art Museum, inBaltimore, Maryland, in the United States. It is one of a number of manuscripts that have beendigitized as part of a project generously funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities,and by an anonymous donor to the Walters Art Museum. More details about the manuscripts atthe Walters can be found by visiting The Walters Art Museum's website www.thewalters.org. Forfurther information about this book, and online resources for Walters manuscripts, please contactus through the Walters Website by email, and ask for your message to be directed to the Departmentof Manuscripts.

NOTE: The pages in this book are ordered from right to left. This means that to view the pages inorder, you should go the last page of the document and read what would be from “back-to-front”for a Western manuscript.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcodePublished 2009

The Walters Art Museum600 N. Charles StreetBaltimore, Maryland

21201http://www.thewalters.org/

Generated: 2011-06-01 15:13 -04:00

Decoration note: Illuminated headpiece

Decoration Upper board outside:Title: BindingForm: Binding

fol. 1a:Title: Illuminated titlepiece and medallionForm: Titlepiece; medallionLabel: This page has an illuminated titlepiece in theupper panel and an authorship statement in the centralmedallion.

fol. 33b:Title: Illuminated headpieceForm: HeadpieceLabel: This illuminated headpiece is inscribed withthe doxological formula (basmalah) in the rectangularpanel.

Provenance Erased bequest (waqf) seal, most probably of the GrandVizier ʿAlī Pāshā; shelf mark 1830 or 8830 (fol. 1a)

Acquisition Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters bequest

Binding The binding is not original.

Red goatskin (with flap); central lobed oval, pendants, andcornerpieces; doublures of brown goatskin with gold-paintedcentral lobed oval

Generated: 2011-06-01 15:13 -04:00

Support material Paper

Laid paper

Extent Foliation: ii+47+iFols. 31a-33a blank

Collation Catchwords: Written obliquely on versos

Dimensions 14.5 cm wide by 23.5 cm high

Written surface fols. 1a - 32b: 8.5 cm wide by 16.5 cm high

fols. 33b - 47b: 14.5 cm wide by 23.5 cm high

Layout fols. 1a - 32b:Columns: 1Ruled lines: 25Framing lines in red

fols. 33b - 47b:Columns: 1Ruled lines: 25Framing lines in red

Contents fols. 1a - 32b:Title: Sirr al-asrār fī maʿrifat al-jawāhir wa-al-aḥjārIncipit:

Text note: Occasional corrections in marginsHand note: Written in partly pointed naskh script inblack ink with rubrics and incidentals in redDecoration note: Illuminated titlepiece and medallion;framing lines in red

fols. 33b - 47b:Title: Kitāb al-aḥjārIncipit:

Text note: Occasional corrections in marginsHand note: Written in partly pointed naskh script inblack ink with rubrics and incidentals in red

Generated: 2011-06-01 15:13 -04:00

Shelf mark Walters Art Museum Ms. W.589

Descriptive Title Two works on precious stones

Text title fols. 1a - 32b:Sirr al-asrār fī maʿrifat al-jawāhir wa-al-aḥjārVernacular:

Note: Title given in preface and titlepiece (fol. 1a); alater hand inscribed the title on front flyleaf iia: Kitābal-asrār fī khawāṣṣ al-jawāhir wa-aḥjār

fols. 33b - 47b:Kitāb al-aḥjārVernacular:

Note: Title supplied by cataloger; not given inmanuscript

Author As-written name: Jamāl al-Dīn al-TifāshīName, in vernacular:

Note: Author may be the same as Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibnYūsuf al-Tifāshī (d. 651 AH / 1253 CE) (see Brockelmann,Geschichte, 1: 652)

Abstract This codex contains two short works on precious stonesascribed to Jamāl al-Dīn al-Tifāshī and Aristotle. The pieceattributed to Aristotle is likely to be a paraphrase or extractfrom that author's Liber mineralium (or Lapidarius). Thisanonymous Ottoman copy was written in 989 AH / 1581 CE,possibly in Syria.

Date 989 AH / 1581 CE (given in numerals only)

Origin Syria (?)

Form Book

Genre Scientific

Language The primary language in this manuscript is Arabic.

This document is a digital facsimile of a manuscript belonging to the Walters Art Museum, inBaltimore, Maryland, in the United States. It is one of a number of manuscripts that have beendigitized as part of a project generously funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities,and by an anonymous donor to the Walters Art Museum. More details about the manuscripts atthe Walters can be found by visiting The Walters Art Museum's website www.thewalters.org. Forfurther information about this book, and online resources for Walters manuscripts, please contactus through the Walters Website by email, and ask for your message to be directed to the Departmentof Manuscripts.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcodePublished 2011

A digital facsimile of Walters Ms. W.589, Two works on precious stonesTitle: Sirr al-asrār fī maʿrifat al-jawāhir wa-al-aḥjār Kitāb al-aḥjār

Published by: The Walters Art Museum600 N. Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21201

http://www.thewalters.org/