Walters Ms. W.750, Four leaves from the Arabic version of Dioscorides' De materia medicaDe materia medicaDioscorides Pedanius, of AnazarbosPrincipal catalogerGacek, AdamCatalogerLandau, AmyCatalogerSmith, SitaEditorBockrath, DianeContributorBarrera, ChristinaContributorEmery, DougContributorHerbert, LynleyContributorNoel, WilliamContributorSimpson, ShreveContributorTabritha, ArielContributorToth, Michael B.ContributorValle, ChiaraConservatorJewell, StephanieConservatorQuandt, AbigailThe Walters Art Museum

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These are four consecutive leaves (numbered fols. 237-241) from an illustrated manuscript of the Arabic version of De materia medica by Dioscorides, copied in the seventh century AH / thirteenth CE in Iran. Pedanius Dioscorides wrote his treatise on medicinal plants in the first century CE. It was translated into Syriac and then Arabic in Baghdad in the third century AH / ninth CE. De materia medica by Dioscorides was one of the earliest scientific manuscripts to be translated from Greek to Arabic. The Walters' leaves illustrate five plants: wild cucumber, mezereon (spurge-olive), and three varieties of thymelaea (spurge-laurel).BaltimoreThe Walters Art MuseumW.750The primary language in this manuscript is Arabic.fols. W.750Aa - W.750DbDe materia medicaIt is not certain from which parent manuscript these leaves derive, although a copy in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (originally Collection Vignier-Densmore), which has the same dimensions, has been cited as a possibility.

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Foliation: 429.520.024.014.5Foliated 237-241Written in vocalized naskh scriptWild cucumberIllustrationThis illustration depicts wild cucumber (qathāʾ al-barrī or qathāʾ al-ḥimār).Text pageText pageMezereon (spurge-olive)IllustrationThis illustration depicts mezereon (spurge-olive) (khāmālā, māzaryūn, fūrūs).Thymelaea (spurge-laurel)IllustrationThis illustration depicts thymelaea (spurge-laurel) (thūmālā, khāmālā).A type of thymelaea called al-sarwīIllustrationA type of thymelaea called īlyūsqūfīnūsIllustration7th century AH / 13th CEIranMuseum purchaseRelevant WorksGrube, E.J. "Materialien zum Dioskurides Arabicus." In Aus der Welt der islamischen Kunst. Festschrift für Ernst Kühnel zum 75. Geburtstag am 26. 10. 1957. Richard Ettinghausen, ed. (Berlin: Gebr. Mann, 1959), 179-180.Carey, Moya. "Al-Sufi and Son: Ibn al-Sufi's Poem on the Stars and its Prose Parent." Muqarnas 26 (2009): 183-204.Day, Florence E. "The Mesopotamian Manuscripts of Dioscorides." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series 8, no. 9 (1950): 274-280.Rogers, Michael J. "Text and Illustrations: Dioscorides and the Illustrated Herbal in the Arab Tradition." In Arab Painting: Text and Image in Illustrated Arabic Manuscripts. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Anna Contadini, ed. (Boson: Brill, 2007), 41-47.Sadek, Mahmoud M. "The Arabic Materia medica of Dioscorides." Classical Review (Cambridge), New Series 35 (1985): 427-428.Sadek, Mahmoud M. "The Arabic Materia Medica of Dioscorides." St-Jean-Chyrsotome, Quebec: Les Éditions du Sphinx, 1983.Hall, Helen B. "Exhibition of Islamic Art, San Francisco." Exhibition review. Ars Islamica 4 (1937): 484-496; 486, fig. 3.Buchthal, Hugo, Otto Kurz, and Richard Ettinghausen. "Supplementary Notes to K. Holter's Checklist of Islamic Illuminated Manuscripts before A.D. 1350." Ars Islamica 7, no. 2 (1940): 147-164.Marteau, Georges, and Henri Vever. Miniatures persanes ... exposées au Musée des Arts Décoratifs juin-octobre 1912. Paris, 1913.Saliba, George, and Linda Komaroff. "Illustrated Books May be Hazardous to Your Health: A New Reading of the Arabic Reception and Rendition of the Materia medica of Dioscorides." Ars Orientalis 35 (2005): 7-65.Kerner, Jaclynne J. "Art in the Name of Science: The Kitab Al-Diryaq in Text and Image." In Arab Painting: Text and Image in Illustrated Arabic Manuscripts. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Anna Contadini, ed. (Boston: Brill, 2007), 25-39.Exhibition of Islamic Art at the de Young Museum, February 24 to March 22, 1937. Exhibition catalog. (San Francisco: de Young Museum, 1937), 26; nos. 23-35; fig. 23.ArtMedicineMuseumPoetryScriptMuhammad, the ProphetKashmiriHorsesWalters Art MuseumBlockbookDocumentGeneologyAstrologyDevotionHistoryLegalLiterature -- PoetryLiterature -- ProseLiturgyPhilosophyScienceScience -- MedicineScriptureSufismTheologyMineralogyLogicGeographyGeomancyCosmologyCartographyFortune-tellingKoranQur`anFirmanPalimpsestPrayerBibleGospelsPsalterMissalLectionaryBook of HoursAntiphonaryPrayerbookHomilaryProcessionalHorologionBreviaryHymnalChroniclePsalter/HoursMaghrebSub-Saharan (West) AfricaTurkeyAfghanistanCentral Arab Lands (Near East)Central AsiaEgyptEnglandIndiaIranIraqPakistanGermanyFranceAustriaNetherlandsEthiopiaArmeniaFlandersGreeceMamlukMughalOttomanOttonianArmenianByzantineAbbasidQajarRajputChristianArabicAustrianDutchEgyptianFatimidGermanIndianIslamicPersianSafavidTimuridTurkishUmayyadEnglishFrenchFlemishEthiopianCarolingianCalligraphyChartsColophonHeadpieceIlluminationIllustrationMedallionMiniatureOrnamentPainting'Kufic'Early Abbasid scriptRaginiRomanesqueGothicWatermarkTreasure BindingGrotesquesHistoriated initialInhabited initialCarolingian MinusculeGothic Book handWhite-vine letteringEnglish secretaryTexturaBatardaHumanisticUncialAccordion bookAlbumBookCodexManuscriptHeraldrySaint's LifeDrawingGrisailleOriginal BindingBindingNew Abbasid stylecharter8th Century9th Century10th Century11th Century12th Century13th Century14th Century15th Century16th Century17th Century18th Century19th Century20th CenturyMusical notationRussiaRomaniaLiturgicalDevotionalScripturalTheologicalLegalHistoricalScientificScientific -- MedicalLiterary -- ProseLiterary -- PoetryPhilosophicalAstrologicalSufiEnglishArabicIllustrationIranIslamicManuscriptWalters Art MuseumScience -- Medicine