Object details
Accession number
P19w52
Creators
Full title
Leaf from a copy of the Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices: A Water Clock
Creation Date
1354
Provenance
Possibly in the collection of Mahmut I (1696-1754), Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, about 1470. (as part of a manuscript now in the Suleymaniye Library, Istanbul, Ayasofya no. 3606)First documented by the French Orientalist Baron Bernard Carra de Vaux (1867-1953) in 1891.Collection of the Swedish collector, scholar, and dealer Fredrik R. Martin (1868-1933), about 1895. (Gardner leaves removed by Martin from the manuscript before August 1902)Collection of the Russian collector M. Victor Goloubew, Paris by 1912.Possibly in the collection of Arthur Samboun, Paris.Collection of the art collector, dealer, and publicist Léonce Rosenberg (1879-1947), Paris by 1913. Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from Léonce Rosenberg, Paris for 10,000 francs on 28 March 1914, through the art collector and design theorist Denman Waldo Ross (1853-1935) and the American art historian Bernard Berenson (1865-1959).
Dimensions
39 x 27 cm (15 3/8 x 10 5/8 in.)
Display Media
Gold and colors on paper
Web Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept meticulous records of many of her acquisitions. In keeping with this legacy, object information is continually being reviewed, updated, and enriched in order to give greater access to the collection.
Permanent Gallery Location
Tapestry Room
Bibliography
Bernard Carra de Vaux. "Notice sur deux manuscrits arabes." Journal asiatique (1891), pp. 295-314, no. 2
Bernard Carra de Vaux. "Notice sur un manuscrit traitant de machines attribuées à Heron, Philon et Archimède." Bibliotheca Mathematica (1900), n.p. (on the parent manuscript; as illustrated in Persian and Indian fashion)
Edgard Blochet. "Peintures de manuscrits arabes à types byzantins." Revue Archéologique (1907), pp. 210 ff, fig. 10. (as Egypto-Arabic, 1351-1354; as detached leaves from an arabic translation of Philo)
Josef von Karabacek. Zur orientalischen Altertumskunde. 1, Saracenische Wappen (Vienna, 1908), p. 22. (as from the time of Saladin)
Max van Berchem et al. Amida: materiaux pour l'épigraphie et l'histoire Musulmanes du Diyar-Bekr (Heidelberg, 1910), pp. 79-81, 95-96, fig. 29. (as early 13th century)
Fredrik Robert Martin. The Miniature Paintings and Painters of Persia, India, and Turkey (London, 1912), pp. 7, 10-12, ill. (as Mesopotamian, Ayyubid period, last years of the 12th century)
Georges Marteau et al. Miniatures persanes. Exh. cat. (Paris: Musée des Arts Décoratifs, 1912), pp. 49-50, 89, 91, pl. 2. (the text as "an Arabic translation of the original Greek Treatise on Hydraulic Automata by Philo of Byzantinum"; as Syrian, Egyptian, or Mesopotamian; the date as disputed by Martin and Blouchet, 1174-1185 or 1351-1353 respectively)
Claude Anet. "Exhibition of Persian Miniatures at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris-I." Burlington Magazine (1912), p. 16. (as Egyptian, second half of the 14th century)
Seymour de Ricci. Catalogue d'une collection de miniatures gothiques et persanes appartenant a Léonce Rosenberg (Paris, 1913), no. 103, pl. XVII. (as "Les Musiciens du Sultan Nour al-Din Mohammed;" Cario, 1185)
Claude Anet et al. "Dr. F.R. Martin and Oriental Painting: 'Le Traité des Automates.'" Burlington Magazine (1913), pp. 49-51. (as Egyptian, 1354 or School of Mesopotamia, 1185)
Berlin Photographic Co. Catalogue of an Exhibition of Muhammadan Miniature Painting (New York, 22 February 1914), p. 11, lot 4. (as "Mechanical Appliance," Egypt, end of the 12th century)
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. "Early Arabic and Persian Paintings: Mainly Recent Acquisitions." Bulletin: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Aug. 1923), p. 50. (as Mesopotamian, probably 13th century)
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. The Treatise of al-Jazari on Automata: Leaves from a Manuscript of the Kitab Fi Ma'Arifat Al-Hiyal al Handasiya in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Elsewhere (Boston, 1924), p. 1. (as 13th century, perhaps the original manuscript produced by Al-Jazari)
K.A.C. Creswell. "Dr. R.F. Martin's Treatise on Automata." Yearbook of Oriental Art and Culture (1925), pp. 33-40. (on pendant leaves then in the Martin collection, as Egyptian, middle of the 14th century)
Ernst Grube. Muslim Miniature Painting (Venice, 1926), p. 9.
Rudolf M. Riefstahl. "The Date and Provenance of the Automata Miniatures." The Art Bulletin (1929), pp. 206-215, n1. (as probably Egyptian, 1354)
L.A. Mayer. "Zum Titelblatt der Automata Miniaturen." Orientalistische Literaturzeitung (1932), pp. 165-66. (on the parent manuscript; as Egyptian, Mamluk in style, about 1350)
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), pp. 167-68, no. 3. (as "A Water Clock, and Musicians before a Gate;" Egyptian, 1354)
Harold W. Glidden. "A Note on the Automata of Al-Djazari." Ars Islamica (1936), pp. 115-16. (on the parent manuscript, as Egyptian, by "al-Jaziri," not al-Jazari)
Eric Schroeder. Persian Miniatures in the Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1942), pp. 22. (as February-March 1354, the parent manuscript housed in Topkapi Saray Musezi, no. 3606 by scribe Muhammad ibn Ahmad or perhaps another artist from Cairo)
George L. Stout. Treasures from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1969) pp. 148-49. (as "A Water Clock, and Musicians before a Gate;" Persian, probably 13th century)
Walter B. Denny. "Some Islamic Objects in the Gardner Museum." Fenway Court (1971), pp. 4-6, fig. 2. (as "A Clock of Water;" Egyptian or Syrian, about 1354)
Yasuko Horioka et al. Oriental and Islamic Art: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1975), pp. 105-06, no. 45. (as "A Water Clock;" Egyptian, Cairo?, 1354)
Rollin van N. Hadley (ed.). The Letters of Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner 1887-1924 (Boston, 1987), p. 506-07, 509-14.
Alan Chong and Noriko Murai. Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2009), p. 36.
Benedict Cuddon. "A Field Pioneered by Amateurs: The Collecting and Display of Islamic Art in Early Twentieth-Century Boston." Muqarnas (2013), pp. 17-18.
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