<i>The Book of Curiosities</i>: A Newly Discovered Series of Islamic Maps

Johns, Jeremy; Savage‐Smith, Emilie

doi:10.1080/0308569032000095451

Cited by 46 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…The information from the detector was converted into a Raman spectrum using GRAMS32 software operating on a standard PC. The spectra were calibrated using the emission lines of a neon lamp, and bands are reported to within an uncertainty of š1 cm 1 . The spectra obtained were compared with those reported in published libraries of spectra obtained from reference materials.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Selected areas of the animals are painted with a lighter blue pigment, which is at its palest close to the eyes of the animals. Analysis of this pale blue material, as used for the animal on the lower right-hand side of the tree, yields a spectrum containing characteristic bands of indigo as listed previously, and two further bands at 1053 and 1049 cm 1 , indicative of basic lead carbonate (a 'lead white').…”

Section: Folio 26b ('Inhabited Tree')mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Analysis of the blue pigment used to illustrate the small star close to the centre of the folio ( Fig. 1(a)) shows that this material is lazurite, which characteristically produces strong bands in the Raman spectrum at 548 and 1096 cm 1 , and weaker bands at 1904, 1641, 1356, 808, 583 and 259 cm 1 ( Fig. 2(c)).…”

Section: Folio 14amentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous examination of the information supplied in the text and the construction of the paper has led to the suggestion that the manuscript is a copy made in c. 1200 of a treatise compiled in the late eleventh century in Egypt. 1,2 The work includes: two world maps, one circular, one rectangular; maps of the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean and Caspian seas; maps of the Mediterranean islands Sicily and Cyprus and of the cities of al-Mahdīya (now Mahdia in Tunisia), and Tinnīs in the Nile delta; and unique maps of the Nile, Euphrates, Tigris, Oxus and Indus rivers.…”

Section: The Arabic Treatise 'Kitn Ab Gharn A'ib Al-fun N Un Wa-mulahmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1(c), with south at the top) is considered to be the only rectangular world map preserved from antiquity or from the medieval world. 1 The green, blue and purple pigments used on the map to illustrate the oceans, seas, rivers and the 'Mountain of the Moon' were analysed at seven sites in order to determine their compositions. The dark green pigment used for the seas and oceans was examined at the western end of the illustrated Mediterranean sea, south of the broad Iberian peninsula.…”

Section: Folio 23b-24a ('Rectangular World Map')mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Raman spectroscopic analysis of selected astronomical and cartographic folios from the early 13th century Islamic ‘Book of Curiosities of the Sciences and Marvels for the Eyes’

Chaplin

Clark

McKay

et al. 2006

J. Raman Spectrosc.

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The Arabic treatise 'Kitāb Gharā'ib al-funūn wa-mulah . al-'uyūn' ('The Book of Curiosities. . .'), which contains a series of important early maps and celestial diagrams has recently been acquired by The Bodleian Library. Previous examination of the text and paper has led to the suggestion that the manuscript is an early thirteenth-century copy of a treatise compiled in the late eleventh century in Egypt.The pigments and inks used for the illustrations on 11 folios selected from the treatise have been analysed using Raman spectroscopy in order to determine their compositions; SEM-EDX analysis has been used to help identify one of the green pigments as a copper-based pigment. The combined analysis shows that the palette is relatively small in comparison with the wide range of colours observable, and consists almost exclusively of cinnabar (or its synthetic equivalent, vermilion), orpiment, lazurite, indigo, a carbon-based black, basic lead carbonate ('lead white') and a copper-based green pigment, possibly a form of verdigris (found in only one of the maps).The only comparable study (but by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy) of Arabic material was that of 17 Arabic manuscripts from the eighth to the fifteenth century at the Bibliothèque nationale de France; that study revealed a rather different range palette, which commonly included minium (red lead), copper green and azurite, and mostly excluded indigo. However, 14 of the French manuscripts in the study were Quráns, and therefore not strictly comparable with the Bodleian manuscript, which is from a secular tradition. One of the three secular manuscripts in the French study, a thirteenth-century north African treatise (manuscript BN Arabe 2221), did have a remarkably similar palette to that of the Bodleian manuscript. This is a very small sample base from which to draw substantial conclusions, but the analysis of 'The Book of Curiosities' forms a valuable starting point on which to build our knowledge of the production of Arab manuscripts from this location and date.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Folio 26b ('Inhabited Tree')mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Folio 14amentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Arabic Treatise 'Kitn Ab Gharn A'ib Al-fun N Un Wa-mulahmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Folio 23b-24a ('Rectangular World Map')mentioning

confidence: 99%

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