This item has been added to the Database within the Explore Islamic Art Collections project. Information is available in: English, Arabic.

Name of Object:

Nihayat al-Su’l wa al-Umniya fi Ta‘allum ‘Amal al-Furusiyya (‘Compendium of Military Arts’)

Location:

Dublin, Ireland

Holding Museum:

The Chester Beatty Library

About The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin

Date of Object:

Hegira 768 / AD 1366

Museum Inventory Number:

CBL Ar 5655

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Coloured pigments and gold

Dimensions:

29 x 20 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Mamluk

Provenance:

Egypt, Cairo

Description:

Nihayat al-su’l wa al-umniya fi ta‘allum ‘amal al-furusiyya is a compendium of military arts written by Muhammad ibn Isa ibn Isma‘il al-Hanafi al-Aqsari (d. AD 1348, Damascus), who dedicated it to the Mamluk viceroy of Egypt, Ala al-Din Asanbay al-Abu Bakri. It became the most popular Mamluk book on furusiyya (horsemanship) and many illustrated copied were made for Mamluk patrons in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, of which this copy is the earliest known. The text is divided into twelve chapters, or lessons, on horsemanship and warfare. The manuscript’s nineteen illustrations depict the use of various weapons, such as the bow, lance, sword and arrow, and military tactics, including the formation of battle lines.

Link to catalogue/digitisation in Holding Institution’s database:

https://viewer.cbl.ie/viewer/image/Ar_5655/1/LOG_0000/

Citation of this web page:

 "Nihayat al-Su’l wa al-Umniya fi Ta‘allum ‘Amal al-Furusiyya (‘Compendium of Military Arts’)" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2025.
https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;ir;Mus21;17;en

MWNF Working Number: IR 17