Persian cosmography, including a 16th century world map

'Atarawi, 'Abu al-Qasim Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Ahmad al-. Al-Madkhal al-Hifzi fi Sina'at al-Tanjim.

€ 35.000,00

Mapping the skies and the earth from 16th century Nishapur: a cosmographical manuscript featuring astronomical diagrams and a world map, showing the Red Sea, Oman, Aden, and the extent of the Old World. Encircled by the ocean, the map also labels Spain as Al-Andalus less than a century after the Reconquista, Istanbul (as Constantinople), the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, and what may be Khorasan. A region labelled as a desert area may refer to the Hejaz, or to the Sinai. The seventeen further diagrams demonstrate planetary orbits, eclipses, and climatic zones.

Beyond its diagrams, the text is composed around cosmographical and astronomical themes. About its author 'Abu al-Qasim Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-'Atarawi, nothing is known. However, the text itself may date from the author's lifetime: a term used by the scribe, Muhammad Tahir, can mean either that Tahir copied the manuscript from an earlier model, or that it was dictated to him from the author himself.

Another clue to the manuscript's creation comes from its sponsor; the scribe states that the manuscript was commissioned for the library of Abu Shuja' Manuchihr bin Sherzad. The text refers to this sponsor throughout with the formal title "Khusrow Iran", implying a certain level of fame and respect, yet he too is an obscure figure. The reason for this may lie in the particular time and place of this manuscript's creation. In this period of the 16th century CE, the Safavid Empire was undergoing a time of instability, civil war, and infighting among the ruling families. Nishapur, where the manuscript was written, was besieged and changed hands several times leading up to the rise of Abbas the Great twenty years later. This manuscript, with its delicate diagrams of the wider cosmos, evidently survived the turmoil.