[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-39617-en":3,"doc-seo-39617-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":11,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},39617,16904993612988,"Olivia Brown","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd",2,"Literature","The Kitab Manafi'al-Hayawan in the Escorial Library","The manuscript Kitab manafi‘al-hayawan (Book on the Usefulness of Animals) in the Escorial library is presented as a richly illustrated Arabic bestiary of major importance for the history of Islamic painting. The study describes its physical features (154 folios, dimensions, naskh script, 91 illustrations, and decorative program), its later leather binding, and the numbering systems indicating missing folios at the start. Colophons provide compilation date and the compiler’s name, raising questions about whether al-Mawsili also authored the illustrations.","THE KITAB MANAFI'AL-HAYAWAN IN THE ESCORIAL LIBRARY  \nAnna Contadini*  \n# The Manuscript\n\nThe Kitab manafi‘al-hayawan(The Book on the Usefulness of Animals)in the Real Bibliotecaof San Lorenzo del Escorial(Ar.898)¹is a well-knownillustrated Arabic bestiary which has notreceived the scholarly attention it deserves.2 In fact,it is a manuscript of great importance for thehistory of Islamic painting,for it is one of the few illustrated Mamluk codices which provide us withboth the date of its compilation,755/1354,and the name of the compiler,Ibn al-Durayhimal-Mawsili.  \n,The manuscript has 154 folios,measuring 185x265 millimeters.The text is written in an ele-gant naskh,with 13 lines to the page.The written surface measures 125x185 millimeters.Thetext has 91 illustrations.The leather binding is much later;it has the impress of the Escorial Li-brary,the graticule of St.Lawrence.It is possible that the book was damaged,along with so manyothers,in the great fire of 1671,losing its original binding together with the incipit,however,it ismore likely that it was already mutilated when it was rebound.  \nThe folios are numbered in three different ways.The European numbering gives numbers toeach page of the codex in its present state;and there are two systems of numbering in Arabicnumerals:one,in the top right-hand corner,numbers each page;the other,at the bottom center,gives a number to each folio.Following the Arabic page-numbering there appears to be only onefolio missing;according to the Arabic folio numbering,three folios appear to be missing.It is clearfrom the text that the missing folios occur at the beginning,as there are no gaps within the sequenceof the text and,as already noted,it lacks the incipit,the text beginning in mid-sentence with the de-scription of the usefulness of the cranium of Man.A comparison with the Latin version ofal-Mawsili's text³allows us to establish that the passage on the usefulness of Man,with which themanuscript begins,must have been preceded by introductory material of a more general nature.Unfortunately,it is impossible to deduce from this exactly how many folios are missing.We mayassume,however,that these folios contained a miniature representing Man,such pictures beingfound in comparable bestiaries.4  \nThe manuscript is in good condition.The paper,now slightly yellow,is heavy and of goodquality.+The main text is written in black ink;the titles,often in cartouches,are written in white ona gold background decorated with small floral scrolls framed by a gold band which is,in turn,framed by a narrow blue strip.The names of the animals are in gold characters with black out-lines.The end of each paragraph is marked by a typically Mamluk decoration:small eight-petalledflowers with a blue or red central button.⁵In the margins of the folios there are often glosses,somebeing words omitted from the text,others being invocations to Allah.  \nThe book ends with a concluding statement(folio 153r,Fig.3),the second part of which iswritten in gold characters,and two facing colophons(folios 153v,154r,Figs.1,2)(not unusual inthe Mamluk period).6 Both the concluding statement and the colophons are important:they tell usthe date?and the name of the compiler of the manuscript.The two colophons,however,present aproblem,to interpret whether al-Mawsili was also the painter of the miniatures.The colophon-texts are somewhat ambiguous;three suffix pronouns are used,and these may be interpreted in twodifferent ways,both linguistically correct.The suffix pronouns in question are in the words心y and aig   (folio_153v,lines 5 and 6)and in L    (folio 154r,line 11)Eustache de Lorey,and Richard Ettinghausen after him,both thought that al-Mawsili was not onlythe author and the calligrapher but also the painter of the manuscript.Henri Massé,who firsttranslated the two colophons,8 interpreted the suffix pronouns in ai si and a:yu as referring toal-Mawsili (lines 2,3),and that in LLo as referring to the feminine noun hijrah of whichMuhamma","cbCaiu75FnIGLo3m","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiu75FnIGLo3m","pdf",8022278,1,28,"English","en",105,"# The Manuscript\n## Physical description and condition\n## Folio numbering and missing folios\n## Script, decoration, and marginal glosses\n## Colophons, compilation date, and authorship questions","[{\"question\":\"What is the Kitab manafi‘al-hayawan, and why is it significant?\",\"answer\":\"It is a well-known illustrated Arabic bestiary whose importance lies in its value for understanding the history of Islamic painting, especially because it preserves key evidence about compilation date and compiler.\"},{\"question\":\"What are the manuscript’s main physical and textual characteristics?\",\"answer\":\"The manuscript comprises 154 folios, written in elegant naskh with 13 lines per page, includes 91 illustrations, and uses distinctive decorative elements such as gold cartouches and paragraph-end Mamluk-style floral markers.\"},{\"question\":\"How do the colophons help determine the compiler and date, and what authorship issue remains?\",\"answer\":\"The concluding statement and two facing colophons specify the completion date and identify the compiler, Ali ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Abī al-Fath ibn al-Durayhim al-Mawsili. The texts are ambiguous in pronoun references, leaving open whether al-Mawsili was also the painter of the miniatures.\"}]",1783085118,43,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"the-kitab-manafial-hayawan-in-the-escorial-library","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,52,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,46,49],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":47,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":50,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-kitab-manafial-hayawan-in-the-escorial-library/39617/",4,{"url":50,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":40,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-13","2026-07-03",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":11},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"What is the Kitab manafi‘al-hayawan, and why is it significant?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"It is a well-known illustrated Arabic bestiary whose importance lies in its value for understanding the history of Islamic painting, especially because it preserves key evidence about compilation date and compiler.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"What are the manuscript’s main physical and textual characteristics?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"The manuscript comprises 154 folios, written in elegant naskh with 13 lines per page, includes 91 illustrations, and uses distinctive decorative elements such as gold cartouches and paragraph-end Mamluk-style floral markers.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"How do the colophons help determine the compiler and date, and what authorship issue remains?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"The concluding statement and two facing colophons specify the completion date and identify the compiler, Ali ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Abī al-Fath ibn al-Durayhim al-Mawsili. The texts are ambiguous in pronoun references, leaving open whether al-Mawsili was also the painter of the miniatures.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":50,"og:type":86,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":57,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":88,"canonical":50},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":91},[92,96,99,103,108,113,118,123,128,131,135],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},80,"literature",{"id":51,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":104,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":109,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]