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recto Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1965.476
Title
Pump for Raising Water (painting, recto; text, verso), folio from a manuscript of the Kitab fi Ma'rifat al-Hiyal al-Handasiyya (Book of Ingenious Mechanical Devices) of al-Jazari
Other Titles
Series/Book Title: Kitab fi Ma 'rifat al-Hiyal al-Handasiya
Classification
Manuscripts
Work Type
manuscript folio
Date
1354
Places
Creation Place: Africa, Egypt, Cairo
Period
Mamluk period
Culture
Arab
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/216692

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Ink and opaque watercolor on paper
Dimensions
folio: 40 x 27.7 cm (15 3/4 x 10 7/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Meta and Paul J. Sachs, Bequest of Meta and Paul J. Sachs.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Meta and Paul J. Sachs
Accession Year
1965
Object Number
1965.476
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Badi’ al-Zaman Abu al-Izz Isma’il b. al-Razzaz al-Jazari's compendium of mechanical devices stands out for combining theory with practice and providing the earliest mentions of mechanical devices that were thought to have been invented in later periods in Europe. Ibn al-Jazari was an engineer who lived in Amid and possibly Diyar Bakr, and was in the service of the Artuqid rulers of Diyar Bakir: Nur al-Din and his sons Qutb al-Din and Nasr al-Din. The book was commissioned by Nasr al-Din, and it was completed in 1204 A.D. or 1206 A.D. This folio, however, comes from a Mamluk copy of the book which was written in 1354 A.D by the scribe, Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Izmiri. The machine depicted here pumps water from a river. Running water rotates a paddled wheel (see the paddles in red) which in turn rotates a horizontal axle. The machine has a triangular body which is immersed in the flowing water. The body contains a gear system which is powered by the rotating axle. A lever on the gear transforms rotational motion into horizontal force which activates a two-cylinder system. The cylinders are alternately filled with water from the same flowing water. The water is then pumped through the two pipes providing a continuous flow of water at the top end of the device.

Publication History

  • Agnes Mongan, Memorial Exhibition: Works of Art from the Collection of Paul J. Sachs [1878-1965]: given and bequeathed to the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, exh. cat., Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, 1965), cat. no. 82, repr.
  • The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices by Ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari (Dordrecht and Boston, 1974), pl. 30
  • John R. Hayes, ed., The Genius of Arab Civilization: Source of Renaissance, New York University Press (New York, New York, 1975), Pg. 241
  • Marianna Shreve Simpson, Arab and Persian Painting in the Fogg Art Museum, Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1980), pp. 15, 112, no. 46
  • Dr. M.J.L Young, ed., Religion, Learning, and Science in the 'Abbasid period, Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 1990), Pg. 269
  • al-Jazari, Compendium on the Theory and Practice of the Mechanical Arts, ed. Dr. Fuat Sezgin, Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science (Frankfurt, 2002)

Exhibition History

  • Memorial Exhibition: Works of Art from the Collection of Paul J. Sachs [1878-1965] Given and Bequeathed to the Fogg Art Museum Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 11/15/1965 - 01/15/1966; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 12/19/1966 - 02/26/1967
  • Arab and Persian Painting, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 02/10/1981 - 03/09/1981
  • 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, 10/18/2023 - 04/15/2024

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