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Curing Diseases and Effects both Apparent and Hidden

18th century

Not on view

This textual compilation of medicinal practices includes instructions for diagnoses and cures. The remedies described draw upon animal, plant, and mineral matter as well as prayers and Qur’anic verses. This page provides instructions for writing prayers to encase in amulets that would help the sick. A 2011 survey accounted for more than 100,000 such manuscripts preserved in no fewer than 408 private family libraries in Timbuktu and its surroundings.

Curing Diseases and Effects both Apparent and Hidden, Manuscript on paper, Timbuktu — Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Curing Diseases and Effects both Apparent and Hidden

Date: 18th century

Geography: Mali, Timbuktu

Culture: Timbuktu

Medium: Manuscript on paper

Dimensions: H. 9 1/16 × W. 7 1/2 in. (23 × 19 cm)

Classifications: Paper-Documents, Manuscripts

Credit Line: Mamma Haidara Memorial Library, Mali (116)

Accession Number: SL.3.2020.2.2

The Met

The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at The Met

The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.