id:			124421
accession number:	1945.383.a
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1945.383.a
updated:		2023-03-08 11:50:30.637000

Peacock-shaped Hand Washing Device: Illustration from The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (Automata) of Inb al-Razza al-Jazari (recto), 1315. Syria, Damascus, Mamluk Period, 14th Century. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper; overall: 31.3 x 21.5 cm (12 5/16 x 8 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1945.383.a

title:				Peacock-shaped Hand Washing Device: Illustration from The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (Automata) of Inb al-Razza al-Jazari (recto)
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			1315
creation date earliest:		1315
creation date latest:		1315
current location:		
creditline:			Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
copyright:			

---

culture:	Syria, Damascus, Mamluk Period, 14th Century
technique:	opaque watercolor and gold on paper
department:	Islamic Art
collection:	Islamic Art
type:		Manuscript
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

---

CREATORS

---

measurements: Overall: 31.3 x 21.5 cm (12 5/16 x 8 7/16 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

---

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

---

LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* <em>Myth and Mystique: Cleveland’s Gothic Table Fountain</em>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 9, 2016-February 26, 2017).

---

PROVENANCE

	(Hagop Kevorkian [1872–1962], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
	date: ?-1945
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 1945-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


---

fun fact:
The mouth of the peacock acts as a spigot pouring water; the figure emerged from a small door and offers soap to the hand washer.

digital description:


wall description:
This leaf from a 1315 Syrian copy of Ibn al-Razzāz al-Jazarī’s <em>The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices</em>, written in 1206, depicts a peacock basin automaton for ritual hand washing. There are 15 surviving manuscript copies of al-Jazarī’s work, ranging from the early 13th to the late 19th century. An engineer from upper Mesopotamia, al-Jazarī was in the service of King Nasrī al-Dīn when he completed his masterwork, an anthology of automated devices including clocks, trick vessels for drinking sessions, devices for washing, fountains, water-raising machines, and measuring instruments. His designs clearly illustrate that automata were not innovations from Western Europe, but they stemmed from a tradition known in the ancient, Islamic, and Byzantine worlds. We do not know with certainty that al-Jazarī’s device was ever actually constructed.
---

RELATED WORKS

---

CITATIONS

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 717
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n131

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 221
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n245

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 221
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n245

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 278
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n298

	Suchman, Lucille Alice. <em>Human-Machine Reconfigurations: Plans and Situated Actions.</em> 2007.
	page number: 	Cover
	url:		https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/humanmachine-reconfigurations/9D53E602BA9BB5209271460F92D00EFE

	Fliegel, Stephen N., and Elina Gertsman. <em>Myth and Mystique: Cleveland's Gothic Table Fountain</em>. 2016.
	page number: 	pp. 104-107, Cat. no. 4
	url:		

	Mikolic, Amanda. <em>The Art of Handwashing. </em>The Cleveland Museum of Art The Thinker Blog on Medium. April 10, 2020.
	page number: 	
	url:		https://medium.com/cma-thinker/the-art-of-handwashing-515bf9ea5343

---

IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1945.383.a/1945.383.a_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1945.383.a/1945.383.a_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1945.383.a/1945.383.a_full.tif