isabella

Sarhang Palace/ Isfahan/ Iran

muhammad's ascension to heaven (1. muhammad visits the hell for misers; 2. muhammad's encounter with an angel in the shape of a gigantic white cock who keeps track of time and calls the faithful to prayer; 3. muhammad at the gates of hell)

miniatures from a copy of mahmud al-bulgari's nahj al-faradis (the paths of paradise), a work dealing with the prophet muhammad’s mystical ascension to heaven, which takes him to both paradise and hell. on his journey, muhammad is mounted on the winged creature buraq and accompanied by the archangel gabriel/jibril. this particular (since dismembered) manuscript was commissioned by the timurid ruler abu said mirza and created by al-sarai in herat (timurid empire, modern day afghanistan), c. 1465

Moorish woman from Algeria

On the Benefits of Quails (verso) from a Manafi’ al-Hayawan (On the Usefulness of Animals) of Ibn Bakhtishu’ (d. 1058), c. 1300, Cleveland Museum of Art: Islamic Art

The Benefits of Animals describes the physical characteristics of many different animals and provides their medicinal uses at the time. Most of the text on this page is a continuation of a section about doves from the previous page. It says, for example, that blood from dove wings cures sore eyes and cooked dove egg mixed with honey and a little borax is good for those with liver complaints. The large title written in Kufic script near the bottom of the page translates as “The Quail and its Qualities and Benefits,” marking the beginning of the next section. The illustration depicts two quails in active postures. The Mongol ruler of Iran from 1295 to 1304, Ghazan Khan, commissioned a Persian translation of the Arabic text, and this important page is from one of the earliest illustrated manuscripts. Size: Image: 10.7 x 6 cm (4 3/16 x 2 3/8 in.); Overall: 24.7 x 18.2 cm (9 ¾ x 7 3/16 in.); Text area: 22.5 x 16.5 cm (8 7/8 x 6 ½ in.) Medium: opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper