Details

Other Title:

Pearl of wonders and the uniqueness of things strange.

Subjects:

Cosmography -- Early works to 1800.
Cosmography.
Chess -- Early works to 1800.
Chess.

Form/Genre:

Manuscripts, Arabic.
Manuscripts, 15th century.
Manuscripts, 16th century.
Manuscripts, Renaissance.
Codices (bound manuscripts)
World maps.
Diagrams.
Annotations (Provenance)
Early works.

Language:

Arabic.

Summary:

Cosmography containing a compendium of place names, seas, and mountains; information on flora and fauna; and a brief explanation of the game of chess. This text has also been attributed to the 14th-century author Zayn al-Dīn ʻUmar ibn al-Muẓaffar ibn al-Wardī.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger.
Foliation: Paper, i + 268 + v ; [1-7], 8-12, [13-14], 15-29, [30-31], 32-33, [34], 35-36, [37], 38, [39-49], 50-55, [56-59], 60-63, [64-67], 68, [69-87], 88, [89-99], 100-112, 115-200, [i], 200-246, 246-267; Added foliation in ink in Hindu-Arabic numerals, in at least three hands, upper left recto.
Layout: Written in 15 long lines (f. 1r-79v) and 17 long lines (f. 80r-267v).
Script: Written in naskh with a not very oblique cut pen, with chapter headings in larger muḥaqqaq script.
Decoration: Schematic world map in green, yellow, red, and black, across a full opening (f. 3v-4r), showing Europe, Africa and the Nile, and Asia; diagram in red and black of directions of prayer toward Mecca with the Kaʻbah in the center (f. 66r); diagram in red and black of chess game (f. 264r); some words in red, red dots marking ends of sentences.
Binding: Bound in brown leather over pasteboard with flap (Type II); blind stamped central mandorla and frame with repeating geometric pattern, gold tooling around the mandorla and gold tooled square designs on fore-edge hinge flap; scalloped edge doublures.
Origin: The item is undated, though it was possibly produced in the mid-to-late 15th or early 16th century. The colophon has been partially pasted over.
A patron or scribe's name is partially visible: al-Shaykh Shams al-Dīn [...] Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Barlis... [...] al-Karīm bi-al-Qurāqī (f. 267v).

Penn Provenance:

Ownership inscription dated 1090/1679 (inside lower cover); later inscriptions in a maghribi hand including the name Ibn al-Maʼmūn (inside upper cover); sold by Sam Fogg Ltd. (London) to Lawrence J. Schoenberg, December 2009.
Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2013.
Gift of Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, 2016.

Cited as:

UPenn LJS 495.

Contributor:

Ibn al-Wardī, Zayn al-Dīn ʻUmar ibn al-Muẓaffar, -1349, attributed name.
Schoenberg, Lawrence J., former owner.
Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)
ابن الوردي، زين الدين عمر بن المظفر، -1349، attributed name.

OCLC:

837237662

Web link:

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page