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Risālat al-Ṣūfī fī al-kawākib

Risālat al-Ṣūfī fī al-kawākib (Arabic:رسالة الصوفي في الكواكب, "Epistle of al-Ṣūfī on the Stars"), is an 10-11th-century poem, probably composed in Rayy, Iran. It was authored by Ibn al-Ṣūfī, or most probably one of his sons.[1][2] It is a poetic supplement to Ibn al-Ṣūfī's astronomical opus The Book of Fixed Stars, in the urjūza genre.[3]

Risālat al-Ṣūfī fī al-kawākib
Old sage with a young prince (Ibn al-Ṣūfī and his patron-prince?), double frontispiece. Ibn al-Ṣūfī, Risālat al-Ṣūfī fī al-kawākib Probably Baghdad, c. 1225. Tehran, Reza Abbasi Museum (RAM), M. 570
AuthorIbn al-Ṣūfī (or one of his sons)
Original titleرسالة الصوفي في الكواكب
LanguageArabic
SubjectAstronomy
GenrePoem
Published10th-11th century
Publication placeRayy, Iran
Media typeManuscript

The text is known from a 13th century manuscript, possibly composed in Baghdad, now in Tehran, Reza Abbasi Museum (RAM M. 570), also called "RAM al'Sufi". It is stylistically dated to circa 1225.[1] An inscription in the manuscript gives a date of AH 554 (1159 CE), but this is probably a later interpolation.[4]

The manuscript has various depictions of the constellations, using various human and animal figures.[5] Several of the figures are wearing Turkic clothing, such as Centaurus, who has a Turkic sharbush headgear.[6]

Another Qajar copy exists, dated ̣to 1894 (Tehran, Majlis Library, no. 5099).[7]

  • Title of Risālat al-Ṣūfī fī al-kawākib
    Title of Risālat al-Ṣūfī fī al-kawākib
  • Cassiopeia. Ibn al-Ṣūfī, p. 24
    Cassiopeia. Ibn al-Ṣūfī, p. 24
  • Centaurus and Lupus. Ibn al-Ṣūfī, p. 72. Centaurus has a Turkic sharbush headgear.[6]
    Centaurus and Lupus. Ibn al-Ṣūfī, p. 72. Centaurus has a Turkic sharbush headgear.[6]
  • Aquila. Ibn al-Ṣūfī, p. 31
    Aquila. Ibn al-Ṣūfī, p. 31
  • Ursa Minor. Ibn al-Ṣūfī, p. 5
    Ursa Minor. Ibn al-Ṣūfī, p. 5
  • Centaurus (detail) with a Turkic sharbush headgear and clothing.[6]
    Centaurus (detail) with a Turkic sharbush headgear and clothing.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b Contadini 2012, Plate 14.
  2. ^ Contadini 2006, pp. 50–51.
  3. ^ Contadini 2006.
  4. ^ Contadini 2006, p. 47: "Given the close relationship of the urjuza miniatures to those in other early-thirteenth-century manuscripts, we would expect the RAM Risalat al-Sufi fi al-kawakib to be datable to ca. 1220-25. It is therefore suprising [sic] that on page 4 we find an inscription giving a date of 554 (1159); were this the actual date of the manuscript, it would require a drastic reappraisal of currently accepted views on the chronology of stylistic evolution. There are, however, good reasons for thinking it a later interpolation."
  5. ^ Contadini 2012, p. 7.
  6. ^ a b c Contadini 2012, p. 81, "...Centaurus being represented with an elaborate sharbūsh".
  7. ^ Contadini 2012, p. 172.

Sources

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  • Contadini, Anna (1 January 2012). A World of Beasts: A Thirteenth-Century Illustrated Arabic Book on Animals (the Kitāb Na‘t al-Ḥayawān) in the Ibn Bakhtīshū‘ Tradition. Brill. doi:10.1163/9789004222656_005.
  • Contadini, Anna (2006). "A Question in Arab Painting: The Ibn Al-Sufi Manuscript in Tehran and Its Art-Historical Connections". Muqarnas. 23: 47–84. ISSN 0732-2992.
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