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"The Elephant Clock", Folio from a Book of the Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices by al-Jazari

dated 715 AH/1315 CE
Not on view
This page comes from a treatise on fantastic devices invented by the author al‑Jazari. His elephant clock was especially intricate: every half hour, the bird on the dome whistled; the man below dropped a ball into the dragon’s mouth; and the driver hit the elephant with his goad. While illustrated manuscripts were growing increasingly popular at the time, this folio is a rare survival from Syria, where few such manuscripts are known from this date.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: "The Elephant Clock", Folio from a Book of the Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices by al-Jazari
  • Calligrapher: Farrukh ibn `Abd al-Latif
  • Author: Badi' al-Zaman ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari (Northern Mesopotamia 1136–1206 Northern Mesopotamia)
  • Date: dated 715 AH/1315 CE
  • Geography: Made in probably Syria or Iraq
  • Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
  • Dimensions: H. 11 13/16 in. (30 cm)
    W. 7 3/4 in. (19.7cm)
    Mat: H. 19 1/4 in. (48.9 cm)
    W. 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm)
    Frame: H. 20 1/4 in. (51.4 cm)
    W. 15 1/4 in. (38.7 cm)
  • Classification: Codices
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Cora Timken Burnett, 1956
  • Object Number: 57.51.23
  • Curatorial Department: Islamic Art

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"Design on Each Side for Waterwheel Worked by Donkey Power", Folio from a Book of the Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices by al-Jazari, Badi' al-Zaman ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari, Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
"Design on Each Side for Waterwheel Worked by Donkey Power", Folio from a Book of the Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices by al-Jazari
Badi' al-Zaman ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari
Farrukh ibn `Abd al-Latif
dated 715 AH/1315 CE
Folio from a Qur'an Manuscript, Ink, gold, and watercolor on paper
Folio from a Qur'an Manuscript
dated 531 AH/1137 CE
"Preparing Medicine from Honey", from a Dispersed Manuscript of an Arabic Translation of De Materia Medica of Dioscorides, 'Abdullah ibn al-Fadl, Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
"Preparing Medicine from Honey", from a Dispersed Manuscript of an Arabic Translation of De Materia Medica of Dioscorides
'Abdullah ibn al-Fadl
dated 621 AH/1224 CE
Folio from a Mu'nis al-ahrar fi daqa'iq al-ash'ar (The Free Man's Companion to the Subtleties of Poems) of Jajarmi, Muhammad ibn Badr al-Din Jajarmi Iranian, Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Folio from a Mu'nis al-ahrar fi daqa'iq al-ash'ar (The Free Man's Companion to the Subtleties of Poems) of Jajarmi
Muhammad ibn Badr al-Din Jajarmi
dated 741 AH/1340–41 CE
Folio from a Qur'an Manuscript, Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Folio from a Qur'an Manuscript
ca. 1180

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