id:			149173
accession number:	1977.91.a
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1977.91.a
updated:		2023-03-11 20:51:08.802000

Text page from a Materia Medica of Dioscorides, c. 1224. Abdallah ibn al-Fadl (Iraq). Ink and opaque watercolor on paper; sheet: 33.1 x 24.5 cm (13 1/16 x 9 5/8 in.); image: 24 x 19 cm (9 7/16 x 7 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1977.91.a

title:				Text page from a Materia Medica of Dioscorides
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			c. 1224
creation date earliest:		1219
creation date latest:		1229
current location:		
creditline:			John L. Severance Fund
copyright:			

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culture:	Iraq, Baghdad, Abbasid Period, 13th Century
technique:	ink and opaque watercolor on paper
department:	Islamic Art
collection:	Islamic Art
type:		Manuscript
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

* Abdallah ibn al-Fadl (Iraq)  - calligraphy by

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measurements: Sheet: 33.1 x 24.5 cm (13 1/16 x 9 5/8 in.); Image: 24 x 19 cm (9 7/16 x 7 1/2 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

	inscription:	Script: Naskh
	translation:	
	remark:		

	inscription:	
	translation:	
	remark:		

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

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PROVENANCE

	Dr. F. R. (Fredrik Robert) Martin [1868–1933] Collection, Stockholm, Sweden
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	Adolphe Stoclet [1871-1949], Palais Stoclet, Brussels, Belgium
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	(E. V. Thaw [1927-2018], New York, NY)
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	(Établissement des Beaux-Arts du Monde, Vaduz, Liechtenstein, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
	date: ?-1977
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 1977-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact:


digital description:
This page is from an herbal, an illustrated book on the properties of plants. Herbals were among the first manuscripts of the Islamic world to include painted figural imagery. The lines in red are titles signaling how to make a particular kind of medicine. <br><br>Initially written in Greek by a physician working for the Roman imperial army in what is present-day Turkey during the 1st century AD, the text was translated into Arabic during the 800s for a caliph who sponsored many translations of Greek scientific and philosophical treatises. This copy entered the royal Topkapi Palace library in Istanbul, from where 33 of its illustrated pages were dispersed to various collections. <br><br>The first recipe on the text page describes the production of a syrup used for coughs, chronic diarrhea, and the treatment of syphilis in women. It states that the herb wormwood should be added to give it a more pleasant smell. The second recipe is for a syrup made from pine nuts, and the third is used to relieve chest pains and coughing without fever. The painting on the reverse depicts a physician in red and his two assistants preparing a medicinal syrup thought to be good for digestion. In accordance with the instructions on the page, tar in the consistency of dough is to be washed in salt water, then plain water. The artist has shown the washing taking place in a great basin. The syrup is then boiled, as seen on the left, and ladled into a bowl for storage.

wall description:
This page is one of about thirty folios, now dispersed among various public and private collections, originally belonging to a codex in the Suleymaniye Library, Aya Sofya, Istanbul. The manuscript, of which the major part is still in Istanbul, contains a colophon giving the name of the scribe -- who may also have been the painter, 'Abd Allah ibn al-Fadi -- and the date, Rajab 621 (June-July, 1224).
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1977.91.a/1977.91.a_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1977.91.a/1977.91.a_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1977.91.a/1977.91.a_full.tif