Book of the constellations (Kitāb ṣuwar al-kawākib al-thābita), by `Abd al-Raḥmān al-Ṣūfī (d. 986), in Persian translation

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Manuscript

Object no:: Per 175

Title:: Book of the constellations (Kitāb ṣuwar al-kawākib al-thābita), by `Abd al-Raḥmān al-Ṣūfī (d. 986), in Persian translation

Calligrapher and production place:: Unknown
Yazd

Production date:: c. 1600-1700

Dimensions:: 252 mm x 183 mm x 48 mm (height x width x depth)

Material:: Paper (material) Pigment (material) Ink (material) Gold

Language:: Persian (language)

Script type:: Nasta'liq script

Collection:: Persian collection

Document type:: Manuscript

Object name:: Codex

Description:: Book of the constellations (Kitāb ṣuwar al-kawākib al-thābita), by `Abd al-Raḥmān al-Ṣūfī (d. 986), in Persian translation. This manuscript is Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī's Persian translation of the well-known Arabic treatise, the Book of the Constellations, by the Iranian astronomer `Abd al-Raḥmān al-Ṣūfī (d. 986). Al-Ṣūfī's book is organised into forty-eight chapters, one per constellation. Each constellation is discussed and illustrated, and its constituent stars are catalogued in a table recording positions in celestial longitude and latitude (for the year 964). In this manuscript, the constellations are shown first as labelled dots, with no figure drawn around the stars, and then again as fully illustrated figures. The manuscript may have been copied from an un-illustrated work, but its owner wished to add the constellation figures which are usually part of al-Ṣūfī's treatise. Codex, 171 folios, ink, colours and gold on paper, Persian text in nasta`liq script, with star tables and labelled diagrams, and tinted drawings of constellation figures (inserted on separate folios), Book of the constellations (Kitāb ṣuwar al-kawākib al-thābita), by Abū al-Ḥusayn `Abd al-Raḥmān ibn `Umar al-Ṣūfī (Rayy 903-986 Baghdad), in Persian translation by Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī (1201-1274), copied from an earlier manuscript in turn copied from the author’s original (made in 25 Dhu'l-Qa`da 647H, April 1250), copyist's name later erased from colophon (fol. 171v), Yazd, Iran, undated, c. 1600-1650

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Upper cover

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