Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs and Carpets

Banu Musa ibn Shakir, Kitab al-Hiyal (on mechanical devices), Persia, circa 1600

Auction Closed

October 27, 03:41 PM GMT

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Persian manuscript on buff paper, 73 leaves plus 2 fly-leaves, 21 lines to the page, written in nasta'liq script in black ink, catchwords, comprising diagrams of 100 mechanical devices in black ink, with later owners' names and seal impressions, in brown stamped leather binding

23 by 13.4cm.

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This is a Persian translation of Kitab al-Hiyal, an Arabic text on mechanical devices, which contains descriptions and illustrations of one hundred small machines including automata. For more information see D.R. Hill, The Book of Ingenious Devices, an annotated translation of the Banu Musa's Kitab al-Hiyal, Dordrecht, 1979.

Banu Musa were three brothers (Muhammad, Ahmad and Hasan) who lived in Baghdad in the ninth century, with a keen interest in astronomy, geometry and mechanics. Their father was an astronomer and companion of the Caliph al-Ma'mun. The brothers are known to have brought several Greek and Syriac manucripts relating to mechanical devices to Baghdad. They commissioned the translation of these works into Arabic, making an important contribution to the scientific knowledge of the early Islamic world.