Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs & Carpets
Arts of the Islamic World & India including Fine Rugs & Carpets
FAKHR-AL-DIN ABI 'ABDULLAH MUHAMMAD AL-RAZI (D.1209), SHARH UYUN AL-HIKMA, A COMMENTARY ON ‘SOURCES OF WISDOM’ BY IBN SINA, MESOPOTAMIA, 13TH/14TH CENTURY
Auction Closed
June 10, 06:00 PM GMT
Estimate
50,000 - 70,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
FAKHR-AL-DIN ABI 'ABDULLAH MUHAMMAD AL-RAZI (D.1209), SHARH UYUN AL-HIKMA, A COMMENTARY ON ‘SOURCES OF WISDOM’ BY IBN SINA, MESOPOTAMIA, 13TH/14TH CENTURY
Arabic manuscript on thick cream paper, the first quinion on light blue paper, 154 leaves plus 2 fly-leaves, 21 lines to the page written in naskh in black ink, important words and titles in red, diagrams on f.91a, f.1 with an ownership inscription in Latin, in brown leather binding with stamped medallion, with flap
24.5 by 16.5cm.
This commentary of Ibn Sina’s Sources of Wisdom - Uyun al-hikmah - is an interesting treatise connected with the more metaphysical aspects of Ibn Sina’s corpus. It deals with logic, physics and metaphysics rather than medicine. During his lifetime al-Razi compiled several commentaries on Ibn Sina, all listed in Rosenfeld & Ihsanoglu 2003 (p.196). For another manuscript of al-Razi and further information on the author, see lot 11. See also Rosenfeld & Ihsanoglu 2003, entry 535 and Brockelmann, GAL, SI. 920.
This volume is especially interesting for the Latin inscription present on the upper margin of f.1a. The three lines slightly rubbed but mostly visible read as follows:
[…] p[rae]cepta. Prim[um] est de visio[n]e sci[enti]aru[m] […]
[…]ane a[n]i[m]e p[er] ymagi[na]tio[nem] rer[um] [et] c[re]dulitate[m] v[er]itatu[m] spec[u]latio[num] et practicar[um]
[…] p[er]f[e]c[ti]ones ho[min]is dividu[n]t[ur] i[n] tres p[ar]tes videl[icet] i[n] p[er]f[e]ct[io]nes a[n]i[m]ales corp[or]ales et ext[erio]res.
The inscription refers to the contents of the volume, dealing with the soul and humans perception. The presence of a Latin inscription on an Arabic manuscript attests its presence in a European library in Medieval times. The margins of the manuscript bear some additional notes in Arabic which appear to be written in the same ink as the Latin part and show a very basic grammar construction, typical of a non-native speaker. It is thus probable that the commentaries on the margins were written by the same European hand, literate and knowledgeable in Arabic enough to read the text in its original language and comment on it.