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IO Islamic 1308
- Record Id:
- 032-003311423
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-003311423
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100030767499.0x000001
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100065935303.0x000002
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- IO Islamic 1308
- Title:
-
Kitāb al-maqāyīs كتاب المقاييس
Christophorus Clavius كلاويوس الفرنجي
- Scope & Content:
-
Holograph rough draft (مسودة, see note f. 1v) of the Arabic translation of Gnomonices libri octo (Rome: Apud F. Zanettum, 1581) by Christophorus Clavius Bambergensis (Christoph Klau of Bamberg, كلاويوس بامبرجنسيس الفرنجي, d. 1537 or 38; see f. 82r, line 16). This treatise on gnomonics, the study of sundials,was translated into Arabic by Mu‘tamad Khān (معتمد خان) Rustam Beg al-Ḥārithī al-Badakhshī ibn Qubād Beg, titled Dīyānat Khān (رستم بيك الحارثي البدخشي بن قباد بيك المخاطب بديانت خان, d. 1705), a courtier to the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (reg. 1658-1707). A note by the translator's son, Mīrzā Muḥammad (ميرزا محمد, f. 1v), confirms the name and genealogy of the translator and the title and author of the text translated. A note offering benedictions for the beginning of Book Seven (f. 372v), partially mutilated by page trimming and perhaps not written by Mu‘tamad Khān's hand, bears the date 41 (?) Shawwāl. If this reading of the numeral is correct and is understood as the regnal year of Aurangzeb, it corresponds to 1109/April-May 1698, which may be taken as the terminus ad quem for the translation and fits well with the date of the translator's death in 1705.
The translation omits the author's preface (pp. 1-10 of the Latin text). Book 1, Proposition 8 has also been omitted from this translation, but was prepared separately by the same translator and is preserved in Add. MS 14332, ff 2v-22r.
Latin words can be seen in the margins of ff. 89v and 303r, but have been mutilated by page trimming.
A note on the flyleaf, perhaps by Richard Johnson (1753-1807), reads 'Upon Dialling. A work of Clavius in Latin translated into Arabic by Maatemed Khan who went to Portugal in the time of Aurungzebe. This is the original foul copy of the translation in the hand of the translator'.
The text is divided into eight books (مقالات) containing numerous diagrams and tables:
Book One (المقالة الأولى, ff. 2r-82r);
Boo Two (المقالة الثانية, ff. 82r-186v);
Book Three (المقالة الثالثة, ff. 187r-269v);
Book Four (المقالة الرابعة, ff. 270r-292r);
Book Five (المقالة الخامسة, ff. 292r-339v);
Book Six (المقالة السادسة, ff. 339v-372r);
Book Seven (المقالة السابعة, ff. 372v-412r);
Book Eight (المقالة الثامنة, ff. 412v-427r).
Begins (f. 2r, lines 2-4):
الشكل الأول نريد أن نرسم دستورًا لأي عرض بلد شئنا فليكن أ ب ج د دائرة نصف النهار
على مركز العالم والفصل المشترك بينه وبين الأفق خط ب د وتحسب من نقطي ب د بقدر عرض
البلد المفروض في الجهتين أ ي ح ز ويصل قطر ر ح ...
Ends (f. 427r, lines 9-15):
... فليطلبها من المصنفين الآخرين على أن نبحث فيها
وقتنا آخر كثيرًا لا سيما إذا لم يتقدم الغلط في رسم الآلة
بصورة الحلقة المور ومن أورونيوس
وفي رسم آلات أخرى وأسال
الله التوفيق للطالب الشاعي
فيه أن يفهمه بوجه
حسن.
Colophon (f. 427r, lines 16-19):
تمت المقالة الثامنة وبها تم الكتاب بعون الملك
الوهاب والحمد لله على ذلك والصلوة
على رسوله وعلى آله وأصحابه
أجمعين
- Collection Area:
- Oriental Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- India Office Library
Qatar Foundation Partnership Programme - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-003311423", "parent" : "#", "text" : "IO Islamic 1308: Kitāb al-maqāyīs كتاب المقاييسChristophorus Clavius كلاويوس الفرنجي" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-003311423
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-003311423
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
Codex; ff. iv+427+iii
- Digitised Content:
- https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100030767499.0x000001
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Arabic
- Scripts:
- Arabic
- Start Date:
- 1698
- End Date:
- 1698
- Date Range:
- 1109
- Calendar:
- Hijri qamari
- Era:
- AH
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Material: Eastern laid paper
Dimensions: 260 x 170 mm leaf [220 x 115 mm written]
Foliation: India Office foliation in pencil
Ruling: No ruling visible; 31 lines per page; vertical spacing 15 lines per 10 cm
Script: Nasta‘līq; the scribe is Mu‘tamad Khān Rustam Beg al-Ḥārithī al-Badakhshī ibn Qubād Beg, titled Dīyānat Khān (معتمد خان رستم بيك الحارثي البدخشي بن قباد بيك المخاطب بديانت خان, d. 1705, holograph)
Ink: Black; diagrams after f. 342 in red
Binding: Half-leather India Office binding in blue and navy blue
Condition: Minor insect and water damage; some offsetting
Marginalia: Few, but see Scope and Content
Seals: f. 1r and back flyleaf v-v
- Custodial History:
-
- Inscription, perhaps by Richard Johnson (1753-1807, front flyleaf iii-r);
- Mīrzā Muḥammad (ميرزا محمد), son of the translator Mu‘tamad Khān (معتمد خان), his inscription and illegible seal (f. 1v);
- East India Company Library, its seal (f. 1r and back flyleaf v-v).
- Source of Acquisition:
-
From the library of Richard Johnson (1753-1807), incorporated into the collection of the East India House in 1807.
- Administrative Context:
- India
- Finding Aids:
-
Loth, Otto, A Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office (London : Printed by order of the Secretary of State for India in Council, 1877), Item 764, p. 222
- Publications:
-
Original Latin text:
- Clavius, Christophorus, Gnomonices libri octo, in quibus non solum horologiorum solariū, sed aliarum quae rerum, quae ex gnomonis umbra cognosci possunt, descriptiones geometricè demonstrantur (Rome: Apud F. Zanettum, 1581)
Studies:
- Ali, M. Athar, The Mughal Nobility Under Aurangzeb (Delhi-Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997)
- Sobers-Khan, Nur, 'East-West knowledge transfer in Mughal India: Christoph Clavius’ Gnomonices Libri Octo (Rome, 1581) and the Kitāb al-Maqāyīs [li-Kalāwīyūs], translated by Mu‘tamad Khān Rustam b. Qubād al-Badakhshī (d. 1705)' (British Library: Asian and African Studies Blog, 13/02/2013) [accessed 26/04/2016]
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)