Manuscript: medical works
Paper, 408 ff.
Fourteenth century (first two books) and sixteenth century (third book)
Al-Hamathami (first), Najibe al-Dîn al-Samarcandi (second), Abi al-Hassa al-Maukhtar Ibn Abdoun (third)

This manuscript, which comprises three medical works, is noteworthy because it presents a number of very explicit anatomical illustrations. The first book deals with pathology and has a section for every organ in the human body. The second book describes medicines according to the diseases that can attack various human organs. The third book classifies food into different categories. It was common for Arab manuscripts on medicine to be illustrated as this one is. The artists who did this type of illustration did not seek to reproduce reality in every detail, but rather tried to provide a schematic representation that could be used as a visual support by those learning lists of descriptive and specialized terms. The real purpose of the illustrations was therefore a didactic one.

Unknown 20 x 10 x 3 cm
National Museum, Damascus 13581 A


_{© Musée de la civilisation, 1999}