4 results
Tales of the Prophets
Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyā’ (Tales of the prophets) is the title of the various collections of tales originating in the Qur’an and embroidered by different authors. Shown here is one of the best known, attributed to Muhammad ibn Abdullah al-Kisa’i, who is thought to have lived in the 11th century AD. The lives of the prophets were not covered in detail in the Qur’an, so al-Kisa’i and other writers added more elaborate storylines. The Qiṣaṣ begin with God’s creation of the world and descriptions of angels, the ...
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National Academic Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Astana
Stories of the Prophets
Qisas al-anbiya (Stories of the prophets) by the 12th-century Persian writer Ishaq Ibn-Ibrahim al-Nishapuri contains the history of the prophets up to Muhammad, recounted on the basis of the Qur’anic narration. It includes stories drawn from the biblical traditions of the Old Testament as well as material on the pre-Islamic prophets of the Arabian Peninsula. This splendid and richly illuminated manuscript containing 22 miniatures was copied in Shiraz (in present-day Iran) in 1577, at the time a center of the arts in Safavid Persia. The manuscript once belonged to ...
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Berlin State Library - Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
Effigies of the Twelve Prophets, According to Raffaello Schiaminossi
This small volume from the Bavarian State Library contains depictions of 12 prophets of the Old Testament: Jeremiah, Moses, Zechariah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Isaiah, David, Amos, Jonah, Micah, Daniel, and Joel. Monumental, with commanding demeanor fitting their functions as seers and admonitors, the prophets appear in wide cloaks flowing amply around them in the drawings, which are crafted in ink with great verve. With spiritual expressions on their faces, they seem to stare at the spectator. Each leaf is signed RAF by the artist Raffaello Schiaminossi (1572–1622), a master of ...
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Bavarian State Library
The Sibyls and Prophets Foretelling Christ the Savior
This manuscript, entitled Sibyllae et prophetae de Christo Salvatore vaticinantes (The sibyls and prophets foretelling Christ the Savior), is possibly a product of the workshop of the French illuminator Jean Poyer (circa 1445–1504) of Tours. The sibyls were female seers from the ancient world whose prophecies it was thought foretold the coming of Christ. This work consists of 25 large illuminations: a depiction of Noah's ark and 12 double-page spreads. The left side of each of the double pages depicts one of the sibyls, who is paired on ...
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Bavarian State Library