TY  - JOUR
T1  - Uncovering ‘Islamic Art’:  al-Birūnī and the Ilkhanid Miniatures
TT  - El-Bîrûnî ve İlhanlı Dönemi Minyatürü
AU  - Issa, Islam
PY  - 2024
DA  - June
Y2  - 2024
DO  - 10.47777/cankujhss.1486242
JF  - Cankaya University Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences
JO  - CUJHSS
PB  - Cankaya University
WT  - DergiPark
SN  - 1309-6761
SP  - 157
EP  - 162
VL  - 18
IS  - 1
LA  - en
AB  - This essay provides a detailed study of an Ilkhanid miniature of Adam and Eve from 1307/08. The story of Adam and Eve has captured the imaginations of countless artists over centuries. Islamic tradition does not have the religious, figural art culture of its Christian counterpart, and images of Adam and Eve present further issues due to their nudity. The miniature in question is an isolated example which has been presented under the banner of ‘Islamic art’ in David Talbot Rice’s landmark study Islamic Art (1965). In the picture, Adam and Eve are both naked, though Eve covers her private area with one hand. This essay proves that this image, based on al-Birūnī’s Chronology of Ancient Nations (c. 1000) is not a straightforward exemplification of Islamic art for several reasons, including details of its materiality, the timing of its composition, and the various influences on its style and content.
KW  - Ilkhanid
KW  - Islamic Art
KW  - al-Biruni
KW  - Adam
KW  - Eve
N2  - This essay provides a detailed study of an Ilkhanid miniature of Adam and Eve from 1307/08. The story of Adam and Eve has captured the imaginations of countless artists over centuries. Islamic tradition does not have the religious, figural art culture of its Christian counterpart, and images of Adam and Eve present further issues due to their nudity. The miniature in question is an isolated example which has been presented under the banner of ‘Islamic art’ in David Talbot Rice’s landmark study Islamic Art (1965). In the picture, Adam and Eve are both naked, though Eve covers her private area with one hand. This essay proves that this image, based on al-Birūnī’s Chronology of Ancient Nations (c. 1000) is not a straightforward exemplification of Islamic art for several reasons, including details of its materiality, the timing of its composition, and the various influences on its style and content.
CR  - al-Birūnī, Abū al-Rayḥān. (1307-08). Al-Āthār al-Bāqiyah ‛an al-Qurūn al-Khāliyah. Manuscripts of the Islamicate World and South Asia, Ms 161, at the University of Edinburgh Library.
CR  - al-Birūnī, Abū al-Rayḥān. (1501-1600). Manuscrit Arabe 1489, at Bibliothèque nationale de France.
CR  - Arnold, Thomas. (1928). Painting in Islam: A Study of the Place of Pictorial Art in Muslim Culture. Clarendon.
CR  - De Blois, François. (1990). Bīrūnī, Abū Rayḥān. Encyclopædia Iranica IV, no. 3: 283-85.
CR  - Hagedorn, Annette. (2009). Islamic Art. Taschen.
CR  - Hillenbrand, Robert. (2001). Images of Muhammad in al-Biruni's Chronology of Ancient Nations. In Robert Hillenbrand (Ed.) Persian Painting: from the Mongols to the Qajars. Tauris, 129-46.
CR  - ibn Kathir. (2004). Al-Bidāyah wa-l-Nihāyah, vol.1, ed. Ahmed Gad. Cairo: Dār al-Hadīth.
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CR  - Jeffery, A. (1951). al-Bīrūnī’s Contribution to Comparative Religion. In Al-Bīrūnī: Commemoration Volume. Iran Society, 125-60.
CR  - Mubarakpuri, Safiur Rahman. (2000). Ar-Rahīq Al-Makhtūm. Riyadh: Dār al-Salām.
CR  - Rashīd al-Dīn, Jāmi‛ al-Tawārīkh. (1314). Manuscript Arab 20 at Edinburgh University Library.
CR  - Soucek, Priscilla. (1975). An Illustrated Manuscript of al-Bīrūnī’s Chronology of Ancient Nations. In Peter Chelkowski (ed.) The Scholar and the Saint. New York University Press, 103-68.
CR  - Rice, David. (1965). Islamic Art. London: Thames and Hudson.
CR  - The Bible: Authorised King James Version with Apocrypha. (2008). Eds. Robert Carroll and Stephen Pricket. Oxford University Press.
CR  - The Gracious Quran. (2008). Trans. Ahmed Zaki Hammad. Lucent.
UR  - https://doi.org/10.47777/cankujhss.1486242
L1  - https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/3950927
ER  -