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Manuscript/Mixed Material Kashf al-qināʻ fī waḍʻ al-arbāʻ min al-jihat al-sitt fī ʻilm al-falak كشف القناع في وضع الأرباع من الجهة الست في علم الفلك

About this Item

Title

  • Kashf al-qināʻ fī waḍʻ al-arbāʻ min al-jihat al-sitt fī ʻilm al-falak

Other Title

  • كشف القناع في وضع الأرباع من الجهة الست في علم الفلك

Summary

  • According to the colophon (fol. 12a), the author wrote the work in 830 H [1426] based on the lectures of Nūr al-Dīn al-Naqqāsh ibn ʻAbd al-Qādir.
  • This manuscript in 12 folios is a mid-18th-century copy of Kašf al-Qinā' fī rasm al-arbā' (The removal of the veil in the description of the quadrants), a treatise devoted to the description of the astronomical instrument known as the quadrant. The treatise originally was compiled by Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Ibn al-Aṭṭar in the first half of the 15th century on the basis of the teachings of his predecessors, al-Mājidī and Nūr al-Dīn al-Naqāš. The treatise is a precious source for understanding the degree of refinement reached by astronomical instrument making during the Mamluk period. Quadrants (rub', plural arbā', literally "quarter") were already in use in ancient Greece. They subsequently were introduced in the Islamic world, where the first descriptions of them date from around the beginning of the ninth century. Astronomers relied on quadrants to measure the meridian altitudes of the sun and the stars, by which they were able to determine values for the latitude, the obliquity of the ecliptic, and the stellar coordinates for a place of observation. Ibn al-Aṭṭar's treatise opens with a lengthy introduction. It then describes the different kinds of quadrants in two main sections, which are divided into nine and ten chapters respectively. Titles of sections and chapters, together with other relevant words in the text, are rubricated in this fine copy of the work. World Digital Library.

Names

  • Ibn al-ʻAṭṭār, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, active 1426
  • Ibn ʻAbd al-Qādir, Nūr al-Dīn al-Naqqāsh, associated name
  • Mansuri Collection (Library of Congress)

Created / Published

  • 4 Dhū al-Hijjah 1149 [5 April 1737].

Headings

  • -  Astronomy, Arab--Early works to 1800
  • -  Manuscripts, Arabic--Washington (D.C.)

Notes

  • -  Binding: modern cardboard with leather spine.
  • -  Fol. 1a-12a.
  • -  Library of Congress. Mansuri Collection, 5-780.
  • -  Ms.
  • -  Nashkī script; 25 lines in written area, 16 x 10 cm.
  • -  Paper: yellowed cream, with watermarks (tri luna), in moderate condition. Black and blue ink (in later hands) on title page; black ink in text with some rubricated words. Some marginal notes; catchwords on rectos.
  • -  Title page in a later hand: "Li-Abī ʻAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-ʻAṭṭār [altered to read: al-Bayṭār] al-Bakrī."
  • -  Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
  • -  Purchase ; Mahmud al-Mansuri ; 1945.
  • -  Arabic.
  • -  Incipit: بسم الله الرحمد الرحيم و صلى الله على سيدنا محمد و على أله و صحبه و سلم الحمد لله المعطي لمن اطاع . . . .

Medium

  • 12 leaves (25 lines), bound : paper ; 20 x 15 cm.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • QB23 .I19 1737

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2008401690

Online Format

  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Ibn Al-ʻAṭṭār, Muḥammad Ibn Muḥammad, Active 1426, Nūr Al-Dīn Al-Naqqāsh Ibn ʻAbd Al-Qādir, and Mansuri Collection. Kashf Al-Qināʻ Fī Waḍʻ Al-Arbāʻ Min Al-Jihat Al-Sitt Fī ʻilm Al-Falak. [4 Dhū al-Hijjah 5 April 1737, 1737] Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/2008401690/.

APA citation style:

Ibn Al-ʻAṭṭār, M. I. M., Ibn ʻAbd Al-Qādir, N. A. A. & Mansuri Collection. (1737) Kashf Al-Qināʻ Fī Waḍʻ Al-Arbāʻ Min Al-Jihat Al-Sitt Fī ʻilm Al-Falak. [4 Dhū al-Hijjah 5 April 1737] [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2008401690/.

MLA citation style:

Ibn Al-ʻAṭṭār, Muḥammad Ibn Muḥammad, Active 1426, Nūr Al-Dīn Al-Naqqāsh Ibn ʻAbd Al-Qādir, and Mansuri Collection. Kashf Al-Qināʻ Fī Waḍʻ Al-Arbāʻ Min Al-Jihat Al-Sitt Fī ʻilm Al-Falak. [4 Dhū al-Hijjah 5 April 1737, 1737] Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2008401690/>.