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History of Medicine

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Decorative calligraphic page header featuring orange Arabic script for Islamic Culture and Medicine

Islamic Culture and the Medical Arts


Visual Catalog of the Illustrations (Part 9/9)

(Supplementary Illustrations, Part 4/4)

The following material did not appear in the printed brochure accompanying the original exhibit, although some of the images may have appeared in the exhibit in the form of originals or reproductions.


Folio 202a from Zakarīyā’ ibn Muḥammad al-Qazwīnī's Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing) featuring a chubby lizard (dabb) and a curled-up cat-like creature with a leash about its neck, labeled zariban (a stinking animal like a cat, a polecat or skunk). The thin, brittle, lightly glossed, fibrous, yellow-brown paper has horizontal laid lines. The illustrations are set within frames of two red and one blue lines.

Illustration from the ‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing) composed in the 13th cent. by Zakariya' ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini. Undated: possibly produced in provincial 18th cent. Mughal India, possibly Punjabi.
NLM MS P 2, fol. 202a


Folio 206a from Zakarīyā’ ibn Muḥammad al-Qazwīnī's Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing) featuring a three brown upright animal-demons with long tails, wearing pearls. Below is a large lizard labeled susmar, a species of green lizard. The thin, brittle, lightly glossed, fibrous, yellow-brown paper has horizontal laid lines. The illustrations are set within frames of two red and one blue lines.

Illustration from the ‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing) composed in the 13th cent. by Zakariya' ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini. Undated: possibly produced in provincial 18th cent. Mughal India, possibly Punjabi.
NLM MS P 2, fol. 206a


Folio 53a from Zakarīyā’ ibn Muḥammad al-Qazwīnī's Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing) featuring five mythical sea creatures, including a human-headed fish and a winged fish. The thin, brittle, lightly glossed, fibrous, yellow-brown paper has horizontal laid lines. The illustrations are set within frames of two red and one blue lines.

Illustration from the ‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing) composed in the 13th cent. by Zakariya' ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini. Undated: possibly produced in provincial 18th cent. Mughal India, possibly Punjabi.
NLM MS P 2, fol. 53a


Folio 149a from Zakarīyā’ ibn Muḥammad al-Qazwīnī's Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing) featuring six animal-headed demons or jinn, all (except the blue elephant-headed demons) snapping their fingers. The thin, brittle, lightly glossed, fibrous, yellow-brown paper has horizontal laid lines. The illustrations are set within frames of two red and one blue lines.

Illustration from the ‘Ajā’ib al-makhlūqāt wa-gharā’ib al-mawjūdāt (Marvels of Things Created and Miraculous Aspects of Things Existing) composed in the 13th cent. by Zakariya' ibn Muhammad al-Qazwini. Undated: possibly produced in provincial 18th cent. Mughal India, possibly Punjabi.
NLM MS P 2, fol. 149a



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Last Reviewed: December 15, 2011