This book uncovers the pictorial and textual delights of a thirteenth-century Arabic bestiary datable to c.1225 and most probably produced in Baghdad, the Kitāb Naʿt al-Ḥayawān (British Library, Or. 2784), the earliest of a group of Arab and Persian manuscripts within the so-called Ibn Bakhtīshūʿ bestiary tradition that deals with the characteristics and usefulness of animals. It is the first detailed study of a bestiary from the Islamic world and reproduces all of the eighty-six paintings contained in the manuscript in colour. Too often in art-historical studies of this nature, the reader is only offered a view of a few chosen paintings and the text is not considered in any depth, but in this book the reader is able to explore and understand both aspects of the manuscript.
As Contadini points out, the Kitāb Naʿt al-Ḥayawān cannot be considered either a zoological or a medical handbook but “a composite product reflecting the inquisitiveness of intellectual life during the Abbasid period”. The book is divided into eight chapters which discuss the manuscript from a variety of perspectives.
It begins with a detailed examination of the group of contemporary manuscripts, both illustrated and non-illustrated, to which the Naʿt belongs, and re-evaluates the earlier scholarship of Hugo Buchthal and Kurt Holter. The second chapter considers the manuscript itself, giving an account of important codicological details such as the paper, inks and pigments used in the texts and paintings, and incorporates the results of technical investigations conducted at the conservation laboratory of the British Library, which also have a bearing on the author's discussion of line drawings and the application of gold and colour in chapter 6. Elements such as these are often not included in the studies of illustrated Arabic manuscripts, so this discussion is a welcome addition. An enormous amount of work has gone into the reconstruction of the manuscript from its current jumbled state, drawing comparisons with other manuscripts and identifying missing folios and paintings. A full table is provided at the end of the chapter giving a clear overview of the current and reconstructed foliation providing a useful guide for the reader.
The following chapter deals in depth with the text and its transmission from the sources of Ibn Bakhtīshūʿ and Aristotle, along with those in Syriac which show that the Naʿt is a unique manuscript not a mere copy. A complete chapter is then dedicated to the study of the four frontispieces, with detailed comparisons drawn with those of other contemporary manuscripts. Contadini studies each of the figures and their postures, bringing to light new iconographical relationships which have not been considered previously. The author ranges widely in her erudite study of the many elements found in the paintings that have often been overlooked, such as the use of dark skin and the appearance of fruit bowls, and includes interesting parallels from the Western tradition.
A full discussion of the text and its sources is found in chapter 5, with translations of relevant entries on various animals giving a fascinating insight into both their characteristics and possible medicinal uses. The camel, for example, is described as “malevolent and extremely spiteful and bitter. It has a long and retentive memory and forgets nothing”. The various parts of the elephant have myriad uses: the boiled meat as a cure for asthma; the dung smeared on to the body prevents lice and if taken by a woman prevents conception.
The paintings are analysed in depth in chapter 6, taking into account the landscape elements and the spatial relationships between the various elements in the paintings. There is, here, the first thorough study of mise-en-page of an Arabic medieval manuscript. The paintings of the Naʿt are discussed in the context of their relationship with other contemporary manuscripts such as the Dioscorides of 1224 and the al-Ṣūfī manuscript of the Reza Abbasi Museum in Tehran. Contadini points out that the date of the al-Ṣūfī manuscript of 554/1159 is a later interpolation based on the analysis of the ink and calligraphy, and given the close stylistic relationship that exists with the 1224 Dioscorides, it should be considered a manuscript of the thirteenth century. The book concludes, in chapter 8, with a discussion of the patronage and the milieu in which this manuscript was produced, with a number of possible scenarios providing an important insight into book production of this period. The author suggests that the manuscript was probably produced within a scholarly environment, reflecting the intellectual revival of late Abbasid Baghdad under the Caliph al-Nāṣir. The book has a comprehensive apparatus of appendixes, an impressive bibliography, and a useful, detailed, index.
In sum, although the book is centred around the manuscript of the Naʿt al- Ḥayawān, it is in fact a discussion of thirteenth-century Arab painting that deals with the subject in unprecedented depth. The research is grounded in meticulous scholarship and the chapters arranged so that they provide a rounded and complete picture of the manuscript and the context in which it was produced. The book is a significant contribution to the field and will remain a key work for many years to come. It is also a great pleasure to read.
