Arab Painting: Text and Image in Illustrated Arabic Manuscripts (Handbook Of Oriental Studies: Section 1, The Near and Middle East)

Arab painting is treated here as a significant artistic corpus in its own right. Rejecting the traditional emphasis on individual paintings, the distinguished contributors to this volume stress the integration of text and image as a more productive theoretical framework. Arab Painting, Preserved Mainly In Manuscript Illustrations Of The 11th To 14th Centuries, Is Here Treated As An Artistic Corpus Fully Deserving Of Appreciation In Its Own Terms, And Not As A Mere Precursor To Persian Painting. The Book Assembles Papers By A Distinguished List Of Scholars That Illuminate The Variety Of Material That Survives In Scientific As Well As Literary Manuscripts. Because Of The Contexts In Which The Paintings Appear, A Major Theoretical Concern Is, Precisely, The Relationship Of Painting To Text. It Rejects Earlier Scholarly Habits Of Analysing Paintings In Isolation, And Proposes The Integration Of Text And Image As A More Satisfactory Framework Within Which To Elucidate The Characteristics And Functions Of This Impressive Body Of Work.--jacket. Foreword / Craig Clunas -- Introduction (and Acknowledgements) / Anna Contadini -- The Manuscript As A Whole / Anna Contadini -- What Does 'arab Painting' Mean? / Oleg Grabar -- Art In The Name Of Science : The Kitāb Al-diryāq In Text And Image / Jaclynne J. Kerner -- Text And Illustrations : Dioscorides And The Illustrated Herbal In The Arab Tradition / Michael J. Rogers -- Elusive Giraffes : Ibn Abi L'Ḥawāfir's Badā'i' Al-akwān And Other Animal Books / Remke Kruk -- Mapping The Mnemonic : A Late Thirteenth-century Copy Of Al-Ṣūfī's Book Of The Constellations / Moya Carey -- From Iraq To Fars : Tracking Cultural Transformations In The 1322 Qazwīnī 'ajā'ib Manuscript / Persis Berlekamp -- The Earliest Islamic Illustrated Manucript, The Maqāmāt And A Graveyard At Suḥār, Oman / Geoffrey R.d. King -- Love, Localized And Science From Afar : 'arab Painting', Iberian Courtly Culture, And The Ḥadīth Bayāḍ Wa Riyāḍ (vat. Ar. Ris. 368) / Cynthia Robinson -- The Schefer Ḥarīrī : A Study In Islamic Frontispiece Design / Robert Hillenbrand -- The Uses Of Captions In Medieval Literary Arabic Manuscripts / Bernard O'kane -- Anatomical Illustration In Arabic Manucripts / Emilie Savage-smith -- The 'translation' Of Diagrams And Illustrations From Arabic Into Latin / Charles Burnett. Edited By Anna Contadini. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [177]-178) And Index. Contents ......Page 6 Foreword (Craig Clunas)......Page 8 Introduction (and Acknowledgements) (Anna Contadini)......Page 10 Section I Theoretical Issues......Page 14 The Manuscript as a Whole (Anna Contadini)......Page 16 What does 'Arab Painting' Mean? (Oleg Grabar)......Page 30 Section 2 Scientific Manuscripts......Page 36 Art in the Name of Science: The Kitäb al-Diryäq in Text and Image (Jaclynne J. Kerner)......Page 38 Text and Illustrations. Dioscorides and the Illustrated Herbal in the Arab Tradition (Michael J. Rogers)......Page 54 Elusive Giraffes: Ibn Abi l-hawäfir's Badäi al-Akwän and Other Animal Books (Remke Kruk)......Page 62 Mapping the Mnemonic: A Late Thirteenth-Century Copy of al-sufï's Book of the Constellations (Moya Carey)......Page 78 From Iraq to Fars: Tracking Cultural Transformations in the 1322 Qazwīnī 'Ajā'ib Manuscript (Persis Berlekamp)......Page 86 Section 3 Literary Manuscripts......Page 106 The Earliest Islamic Illustrated Manuscript, the Maqīmīt and a Graveyard at Suhīr, Oman (Geoffrey R. D. King)......Page 108 Love Localized and Science from Afar: 'Arab Painting', Iberian Courtly Culture, and the Hadïth Bayäd wa Riyäd (Vat. Ar. Ris. 368) (Cynthia Robinson)......Page 116 The Schefer Harïrï: A Study in Islamic Frontispiece Design (Robert Hillenbrand)......Page 130 The Uses of Captions in Medieval Literary Arabic Manuscripts (Bernard O'Kane)......Page 148 Section 4 The European Connection......Page 158 Anatomical Illustration in Arabic Manuscripts (Emilie Savage-Smith)......Page 160 The 'Translation' of Diagrams and Illustrations from Arabic into Latin (Charles Burnett)......Page 174 Introductory Bibliography......Page 190 Illustrations ......Page 192 Index......Page 278 Arab painting, preserved mainly in manuscript illustrations of the 12th to 14th centuries, is here treated as an artistic corpus fully deserving of appreciation in its own terms, and not as a mere precursor to Persian painting. The book assembles papers by a distinguished list of scholars that illuminate the variety of material that survives in scientific as well as literary manuscripts. Because of the contexts in which the paintings appear, a major theoretical concern is, precisely, the relationship of painting to text. It rejects earlier scholarly habits of analysing paintings in isolation, and proposes the integration of text and image as a more satisfactory framework within which to elucidate the characteristics and functions of this impressive body of work.