Name of Object:

Manuscript on geography

Location:

Damascus, Syria

Holding Museum:

National Museum of Damascus

About National Museum of Damascus, Damascus

Original Owner:

Written by al-Malik al-Mu'ayyad 'Imad al-Din Isma'il Abu'l Fida (d. AH 732 / AD 1331)

Date of Object:

Hegira 741 / AD 1340

Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s):

Copied by Muhammad bin' Abd al-Rahman al-Qirsh. The first two pages were decorated by Muhammad al-'Arari.

Museum Inventory Number:

ع / 14689

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Ink on paper, gilded frontispiece.

Dimensions:

Length 33 cm, width 23 cm, depth 3.6 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Mamluk

Provenance:

Possibly Hama, Syria.

Description:

This geographical manuscript Taqwim al-Buldan (“The Almanac of Countries”) is a well-known medieval Muslim work on geography written by an Ayyubid prince by the name of Abu'l Fida (d. AH 732 / AD 1331). The text is systematically descriptive. It is supported by information in tables based on rational and scientific observation in a manner similar to modern studies. The information used to compile the tables is judged to have come mostly from the Arabic translations and modifications of Ptolemy written by al-Biruni and Ibn Sa'id al-Maghrebi and other scientists. The manuscript was completed in AH 721 / AD 1321, and, upon publication, it superseded all previous geographical texts. This copy was made a generation later, during the Mamluk period, by Muhammad bin 'Abd al-Rahman al-Qirsh. The frontispiece was painted by Muhammad al-'Arari.
The frontispiece is highly ornamented, with a gilded frame surrounding the opening text of the book. The title and the name of the ruler who sponsored it are written in white letters on an intricate blue and gold background. Vegetal patterns cover both the frame and the area surrounding the text. There is a line of text in gold above the frame, as well as a delicate, but slightly smudged, note in the bottom margin.
Also pictured is an example of one of the book's tables. It is arranged into simple, plain boxes filled with small, black handwriting and large, red labelling.
The author, Abu'l Fida, was an Ayyubid prince and scholar who was born in Damascus in 1273 and died in Hama in AH 732 / AD 1331. He is also famous for writing Mukhtasar ta'rikh al-bashar (“A Summary of Human History”) a complied history of the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods up to AH 729 / AD 1329 that was popular in his time and later with the 18th-century European Orientalists.

This important manuscript is a work of encyclopaedic scope and includes a highly ornate frontispiece typical of the Mamluk period. It was composed by the Damascene Ayyubid Prince al-Malik al-Mu'ayyad 'Imad al-Din Isma'il Abu'l Fida (d. AH 732 / AD 1331) and this copy was made a generation later.

How date and origin were established:

The manuscript specifies that this copy was completed on Friday 3 Jamada al-Akhar 741 (24 November 1340).

How Object was obtained:

Purchased in 1961.

How provenance was established:

It is possible that the manuscript was produced in Hama, an assertion based on the text at the beginning of the book that reads: “Sultan 'Imad al-Din Isma'il, Sahib Hama Abu al-Fida, who thought up [the idea for] this book. This geographical book relies on compilation of ideas and copying like an almanac of countries. It divides the ancient world into regions.” This does not establish provenance for certain, for it is possible that the copying and frontispiece painting took place in Damascus or Aleppo in the name of the ruler of Hama.

Selected bibliography:

Abu al-Faraj al-Ush, M., A Concise Guide to the National Museum of Damascus, Damascus, 1969.
Cahen, C., “Ayyubids”, Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. I, Leiden, 1979, p.804.

Citation of this web page:

Mona al-Moadin "Manuscript on geography" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;sy;Mus01;32;en

Prepared by: Mona Al-Moadin
Translation by: Hilary Kalmbach (from the Arabic)
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: SY 45