Drawing of two men on either side of a plant with Arabic writing above and below them
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

At the top of the beige vertical rectangular paper are three lines of Arabic. Below are two men facing each other with a large plant between them. The man on the left is light-skinned and has long black hair and facial hair. He wears a gray turban, gold boots, gold arm bands, and a long orange garment. In front of him he holds a blue-tipped spear with both hands. The man on the right is dark-skinned and apparently bald with long brown facial hair. He wears a long purple robe and a blue and green cloak decorated with gold bands and draped over his left arm. Both men have yellow circles behind their heads. The plant has a purple root at the bottom, a green stem, three green leaves on either side, and five purple blossoms at the top. Below the men and the plant are an additional two lines of Arabic.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1960.193
Title
Warrior and Physician with the Plant Kestron (painting, recto; text, verso), folio from a manuscript of the De Materia Medica of Dioscorides
Other Titles
Series/Book Title: De Materia Medica
Classification
Manuscripts
Work Type
manuscript folio
Date
1224
Places
Creation Place: Middle East, Iraq, Baghdad?
Period
Abbasid period
Culture
Arab
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/215370

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Dimensions
folio: 32.8 x 23.7 cm (12 15/16 x 9 5/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Bequest - Estate of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. Old notebook files also list F.R. Martin

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller
Accession Year
1960
Object Number
1960.193
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • F. R. Martin and F. Sarre, Die Ausstellung von Meisterwerken muhammedanischer Kunst in München 1910, exh. cat. (Munich, 1912), vol. I, pl. 4
  • F.R. Martin, The Miniature Painting and Painters of Persia, India and Turkey, from the 8th to the 18th century, B. Quaritch (London, England, 1912), vol. 2, pl. 6b
  • E. Kühnel, Miniaturmalerie im Islamischen Orient (Berlin, 1922), pl. 6
  • Sir Thomas Walker Arnold, Survivals of Sasanian and Manichaean Art in Persian Painting (Oxford, 1924), pl. 14
  • E. de Lorey, La peinture musulmane de l'école de Baghdad (1933), p. 7, fig. 10, p. 12
  • Max Meyerhof, Die literaturischen Grundlagen der arabischen Heilmittellehre, Ciba Zeitschrift (1942), vol. VIII, pp. 2957-92, p. 2972
  • Hugo Buchthal, Early Islamic Miniatures from Baghdad, Journal of the Walters Art Gallery (1942), vol. V, pp. 19-36, p. 21, fig. 4
  • Max Meyerhof, The Background and Origins of Arabian Pharmacology, Ciba Symposium (1944), vol. VI, pp. 1847-56, p. 1860
  • Jose Pijoan, Summa Artis, Historia General del Arte (Madrid, 1949), pl. XVII
  • Ernst Grube, Materialien zum Dioskurides Arabicus, Aus der Welt der islamischen Kunst: Festschrift für Ernst Kühnel zum 75. Geburtstag am 26. 10. 1957, ed. Richard Ettinghausen (Berlin, 1959), p. 173, no. 2
  • Eric Schroeder, "Mrs. Rockefeller's Miniatures at the Fogg", The Connoisseur (August 1961), vol. 148, pp. 70-75, p. 72, fig. 3
  • Marianna Shreve Simpson, Arab and Persian Painting in the Fogg Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1980), no. 1, pp. 9-11, 15, 16, 17, ill.
  • Alain Touwaide, Farmacopea Araba Medievale, Antea Edizioni (Milan, Italy, 1992 - 1993), pp 76, fig. 69
  • Mary McWilliams and Jochen Sokoly, Social Fabrics: Inscribed Textiles from Medieval Egyptian Tombs, exh. cat. (Cambridge, MA, February 22, 2022), pp. 76-77, cat. 8

Exhibition History

  • Arab and Persian Painting, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 02/10/1981 - 03/09/1981
  • Islamic Art and the Written Word, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 10/05/1983 - 11/27/1983
  • Islamic Art: The Power of Pattern, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 09/23/1989 - 01/17/1990
  • Paintings for Princes: The Art of the Book in Islam, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/27/1990 - 03/25/1990
  • 32Q: 2550 Islamic, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 05/14/2015
  • 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/22/2016 - 03/11/2016
  • Social Fabrics: Inscribed Textiles from Medieval Egyptian Tombs, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/22/2022 - 05/08/2022

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu