- Title
- Page from an Herbal Manuscript
- Date Made
- 13th century
- Medium
- Ink and opaque watercolor on paper
- Dimensions
- 9 1/2 × 6 3/4 in. (24.13 × 17.15 cm)
Frame: 20 × 15 × 1 1/2 in. (50.8 × 38.1 × 3.81 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.73.5.408a-b
- Collecting Area
- Art of the Middle East: Islamic
- Curatorial Notes
Beginning in the ninth century and under the direction of the ‘Abbasid caliph, scribes began translating, updating, and expanding ancient Greek scientific and philosophical manuscripts. Among the translated texts was Dioscorides’s De materia medica, a guide to medicinal plants and the inspiration for later herbal manuscripts, from which this thirteenth-century page derives (also see M.73.5.407a-b). Physicians and pharmacists may have relied on nonillustrated versions of the text in their practice, but illustrated versions such as this one, which often have more limited textual information, were likely commissioned for their visual appeal.
- Selected Bibliography
- Pal, Pratapaditya, ed. Islamic Art: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 1973.
