"Design on Each Side for Waterwheel Worked by Donkey Power", Folio from a Book of the Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices by al-Jazari

Design for a Water-Raising Device

"The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices" (Kitab fi ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya), more generally known as the Automata, was written by an engineer named Badi' al-Zaman Abu al-'Izz Isma'-il ibn al-Razzaz al-Jaziri while in the service of the Artuqid sultan of Diyarbakr (located in the upper reaches of the Tigris river, in Eastern Turkey), Nasir al-Din, and was completed between 1204 and 1206. In the treatise the mechanical devices or automata are divided into six categories: the construction of clocks; vessels and figures suitable for drinking sessions; pitchers, basins, and other things; fountains and perpetual flutes; machines for raising water; and miscellaneous.

The drawing on this leaf illustrates the first chapter of the fifth category, which discusses machines for lifting water from a pool to a higher place by use of an animal (in this case a donkey) that turns a lever arm. It comes from a manuscript that was completed by the copyist Farrukh ibn 'Abd al-Latif al-Katib al-Yaquti al-Mawlawi in Ramadan, A.H. 715/December, A.D. 1315. Originally known in Istanbul, its illustrations are now dispersed in various collections in the West.

When the donkey pivots with the lever arm, the animal turns the wheel on the vertical axle. This activates the other wheels so that the scoop of the ladle is raised to let the water run out its stem into the irrigation channel. The workings of the device are clearly outlined in the text and supplemented by the illustration, which sets forth the concept of the instrument, and only serves as a working drawing in conjunction with the text. For example, the artist has separated the toothed wheels at the right, which work together to turn the partly toothed wheel at the left, which then engages the rungs seen below it, turning the bar that lifts the ladle.

The sure drawing, strong coloring, and felicitous placement of the illustration on the page transform a simple diagram into a work of art.

Marie Lukens Swietochowski in [Berlin 1981]

Inscription: In Arabic:
The inscription and date of this manuscript are contained in folio 207 recto which finishes up the last chapter of the last book, continuing from folio 206 verso. Al-Jazari then makes a few remarks about the great value of his work, and beginning line 8 the scribe writes: "This manuscript is transcribed from the manuscript of the author, God's blessing be upon him. And the letters and their substitutes, and the drawing of the pictures of the chapters, and what he described, he did correctly, and wrote it with his own handwriting- may God be pleased with him." Beginning line 14 the colophon reads: "And praise be to God, the Lord of Worlds, and prayers and peace be upon Lord Muhammad and his family and all his companions. Written by the seeker after God Most High, Farkh ibn Abd al-Latif, the scribe, al-Yakuti almawlawi, praising God Most High and praying for his Prophet Muhammad and his family; at the end of Ramadan the blessed, year 715 A.H. [i.e., December 28, 1315]."
(Translated by F.E. Day, 1956)

Jack S. Rofe, Scotland (until 1929; his sale, Sotheby's, London, December 12, 1929, no. 383, 385-387, 582); [ Hagop Kevorkian, New York, by 1930–at least 1953]; [ Kevorkian Foundation, New York, until 1955; sold to MMA]

Berlin. Museum für Islamische Kunst, Pergamonmuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. "The Arts of Islam. Masterpieces from the M.M.A.," June 15, 1981–August 8, 1981, no. 45.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Renaissance of Islam: Art of the Mamluks," November 21, 1981–January 10, 1982, suppl. #68-72.

Paris. Institut du Monde Arabe. "The Golden Age of Islamic Sciences," October 25, 2005–March 19, 2006, no. 130.

Paris. Institut du Monde Arabe. "Venise et l'Orient," October 2, 2006–February 18, 2007, not in catalogue.

Paris. Institut du Monde Arabe. "Oriental Gardens," April 18, 2016–September 25, 2016, no. 34.

Robinson, Basil William. The Kevorkian Collection: Islamic and Indian Illustrated Manuscripts, Miniature Paintings and Drawings. New York, 1953. no. I, p. 10.

Atil, Esin. Renaissance of Islam : Art of the Mamluks. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981. pp. 255–57; describes Book of Knowledge of Mechanical Devices.

"Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York." In The Arts of Islam. Berlin, 1981. no. 45, pp. 124–25, ill. p. 125 (recto, color).

L'Age d'Or des Sciences Arabes. Paris: Institut du Monde Arabe, 2005. no. 130, p. 236, ill. (color).

Institut du Monde Arabe. "De l'Alhambra au Taj Mahal." In Jardins d'Orient. Paris: Editions Snoeck, 2016. no. 34, p. 204.