Skip to main content

Illuminated manuscripts

 Subject
Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus

Found in 32 Collections and/or Records:

Or Ms 1: أنوار التنزیل وأسرار التأویل Anwār al-tanzīl wa-asrār al-ta'wīl, undated

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 1
Scope and Contents

A well-known commentary on the Qur'ān. The name of the author does not appear, but the commentary is known to have been compiled by Nāṣir al-Dīn 'Abd-allāh b. 'Umar al-Bayḍawī whose death date is commonly given as c. 1286 C.E. However, accordīng to the notice of his life in Kitāb al-Aqālīm, written at Tabriz 716 A.H. (1316 C.E.), Hamd-allāh Mustawfī, a contemporary, says he died in 710 A.H. (1310 C.E.).

The text of the Qur'ān is written in red ink.

Dates: undated

Or Ms 6: نهج البلاغة Nahj al-balāghah, undated copy (original text composed 10th or 11th cent. C.E.)

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 6
Scope and Contents

A collection of the speeches, mandates, educational works, wise sayings, and sermons of 'Alī b. Abī Ṭalib, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muḥammad, and First Imām of Shi'i Islam. It was compiled by al-Sharīf al-Raḍī Abū al-Ḥasan Muḥammad b. al-Ḥusayn b. Mūsá (d.406 A.H., 1015 C.E.).

Dates: undated copy (original text composed 10th or 11th cent. C.E.)

Or Ms 8: غرر الحکم ودررالکلم Ghurar al-ḥikam wa-durar al-kalim, 1023 A.H., 1614 C.E.

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 8
Scope and Contents

A collection of the numerous wise sayings of 'Alī b. Abī Ṭalib, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muḥammad, and First Imām of Shi'i Islam). The apothegms were gathered and arranged by 'Abd al-Waḥīd b. Muḥammad b. 'Abd al-Waḥīd Amīdī Tamīmī in the sixth century A.H..

Dates: 1023 A.H.; 1614 C.E.

Or Ms 11: شرح مفاتیح الشرائع Sharḥ Mafātīḥ al-sharā'i', 1175 A.H., 1761 C.E.

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 11
Scope and Contents

An extensive commentary upon Mafātīḥ al-sharā'i', a treatise on Islamic law by Mawlānā Muḥammad Muḥsin Kashānī (still alive in 1105 A.H.). The present work, compiled in 1090 A.H.(1679 C.E.), is by the author's nephew, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. Murtaḍá, known as al-Raḍī.


This commentary is in two volumes, OR MS 11 and 12.

Dates: 1175 A.H.; 1761 C.E.

Or Ms 12: شرح مفاتیح الشرائع Sharḥ Mafātīḥ al-sharā'i', 1175 A.H., 1761 C.E.

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 12
Scope and Contents

An extensive commentary upon Mafātīḥ al-sharā'i', a treatise on Islamic law, by Mawlānā Muḥammad Muḥsin Kashānī (still alive in 1105 A.H.). The present work, compiled in 1090 A.H. (1679 C.E.), is by the author's nephew, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. Murtaḍá, known as al-Raḍī.


This commentary is in two volumes, OR MS 11 and 12.

Dates: 1175 A.H.; 1761 C.E.
Detail of page from the Compendium of Chronicles by Rashid al-Din. Shows text with central miniature depicting the Sultan Luhrasp, who ruled the Mazandarin Province of Iran during the late 15th century, seated on a throne, surrounded by attendants.
Detail of page from the Compendium of Chro...

Or Ms 20: جامع التواریخ Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh (Compendium of Chronicles), 714 A.H. (1314 C.E.)

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 20
Scope and Contents This manuscript, among the most iconic items held by Edinburgh University Library, is one of the supreme masterpieces of Persian book painting and one of the most important medieval manuscripts from either West or East. Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh was written by the historian and vizier to the Ilkhanid court, Rashīd al-Dīn Faḍl-allāh Ṭabīb Hamadānī (ca. 1247-1318 C.E.), and copied in Tabriz by the author's own scribes and illustrators. This fragment of the manuscript...
Dates: 714 A.H. (1314 C.E.)

Or Ms 21: وفیات الاعیان Wafayāt al-a'yān, undated copy (original text composed 13th cent. C.E.)

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 21
Scope and Contents

These are the famous biographies commenced in Cairo, 654 A.H. (1256 C.E.) and completed there, 672 A.H. (1274 C.E.) by the celebrated scholar, poet, and historian, Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Ibrahīm b. Abī Bakr b. Khallikān (d. 681A.H., 1282 C.E.).

Dates: undated copy (original text composed 13th cent. C.E.)

Or Ms 28: مخروطاط ابلونیوس Makhrūṭāṭ Iblawniyūs, early 12th cent. A.H. at latest, early 18th cent. C.E. at latest

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 28
Scope and Contents The treatise on conic sections by Apollonius of Perga, who was born in the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes, and died during that of Ptolemy Philopater, who ruled 222-205 B.C. It is stated on fol. 52b that Apollonius dedicated the first three books of his conic sections to Eudemus. The treatise was originally in eight books, of which only the first four were known in Europe. About the middle of the seventeenth century the next three books were translated from an Arabic MS. dated 1250 C.E. The...
Dates: early 12th cent. A.H. at latest; early 18th cent. C.E. at latest

Or Ms 30: موارد الکلم وسلک درر الحکم Mawārid al-kilam wa-silk durar al-ḥikam, undated copy (original text composed 16th cent. C.E.)

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 30
Scope and Contents

A work on ethics by the celebrated Shaykh Abū al-Fayḍ, eldest son of Shaykh Mubārak Nāgūrī, and brother of the equally celebrated Abū al-Faḍl. He was born at Agra, 954 A.H. (1547 C.E.), and on account of his literary talents became a great favourite with the Mughal Emperor Akbar (1542-1605 C.E.).

Dates: undated copy (original text composed 16th cent. C.E.)

Or Ms 42: انوار الربیع في انواع البدیع Anwār al-rabī' fī anwā' al-badī', 1113 A.H., 1701 C.E.

 Item
Identifier: Or Ms 42
Scope and Contents

This is a commentary upon the Badi'iyyah of 'Alī Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Madanī b. Aḥmad Niẓam al-Dīn al-Ḥusaynī al-Ḥasanī by the author himself, who wrote it in India in 1077 A.H. (1666 C.E.).

Dates: 1113 A.H.; 1701 C.E.