New Accessions of Islamic Art

During the past year the Museum's collection of Islamic art has been greatly enriched by several important purchases, gifts, and bequests. The bequest of twenty ceramics and two Persian rugs by Horace Havemeyer has already been discussed in a separate Bulletin article (May I957). One of the most notable additions was the Cora Timken Burnett Bequest of Persian miniatures and other art objects, which included many important Arabic and Persian paintings of the thirteenth to the seventeenth century. The earliest miniature painting in the Burnett Bequest comes from the famous manuscript of Materia Medica, an Arab version of the Greek work by Dioscorides, copied and probably painted by Abdallah ibn al-Fadl in the month of Rajab 620 A. H. (July-August 1224). The miniatures from this manuscript, now in various collections in Europe and America, are of the Baghdad school. They illustrate the preparation of medicine, medical consultations, and operations. The Burnett miniature represents a thirteenth-century Baghdad pharmacy, with its storage jars and druggists preparing medicine from honey. The style of painting, based on Syrian and Iranian traditions, shows a keen observation of daily life. The story is told in a simple way and the composition is limited to essentials. The figures and building are treated in a purely decorative manner, which is further enhanced by the use of a few vigorous colors, such as red, blue, green, yellow, and purple, with the addition of gold. Six miniatures in the Burnett Bequest belong to the Mongol school of Persian painting. The earliest of these, showing a pair of bullocks, comes from a copy of Manafi al-Hayawan, or "Description of Animals," by Abu Said ibn Baktishu. The characteristic feature is the Chinese influence introduced into Iran by the Mongol conquerors. The best-known and earliest copy of Manafi al-Hayawan is in the Morgan Library. It was copied in Maragha at the order of the Ilkhan ruler Ghazan Khan in I297 or I299. Many of the miniatures in both manuscripts are painted in an impressionistic manner with little color, suggesting the monochrome Chinese ink paintings of the Sung and Yuan dynasties. The naturalistic landscape, with lotus plants and Chinese clouds, and the subdued colors are typical of the Mongol style. Another important Mongol example is a leaf with miniature paintings on each side, belonging to a manuscript of Munis al-Ahrar, an anthology of Persian poetry by Muhammad ibn al-Jajarmi, who was also the scribe. It is dated Ramadan 741 A. H. (February I34I). This leaf, one of six from the above manuscript, is decorated on both sides with three bands on a red ground containing representations of constellations and signs of the zodiac. The small miniatures show the characteristic style of the Mongol school, which is also known to us from the fine illustrations of a Shah-nama ("Book of Kings") in the Monroe Gutman collection in New York, fourteen of which are presently on loan at the Museum. Contemporary with the Mongol school of painting in Iran was the Mamluk school, to which belongs a miniature representing a mechanical device, or automaton, placed on top of an elephant. It comes from a well-known manuscript of al-Jazari's treatise on Automata, copied in the month of Ramadan 715 A. H. (October 1315). Five other paintings from the same manuscript, acquired in I955 from the Kevorkian collection, are now in our Museum. The Mamluk rulers of Egypt and Syria were particularly fond of al-Jazari's work. In the library of Santa Sophia in Istanbul there is a manuscript of the Automata copied in Cairo in 1354 for an amir of the Mamluk sultan Salah ad-Din Salih. The miniatures of these Mamluk manuscripts are painted in bright colors and a bold style based on traditions of the Mesopotamian school of painting. Ten of the miniature paintings in the Burnett Bequest belong to the Timurid school of the