TWO LOOSE ILLUSTRATED FOLIOS FROM A KITAB SUWAR AL-KAWAKIB AL-THABITA BY AL-SUFI
Possibly Iran and India, 19th century

Opaque pigments and ink heightened with gold on paper, depicting two out of the forty-eight constellations illustrated in the Kitab suwar al-kawakib al-thabita (Book of the Images of the Fixed Stars) written by 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (903 – 986), based on the Almagest of the Greek astronomer Ptolemy, the two folios illustrating the constellations of Gemini and Pegasus, both with gold roundels marking the stars position, the reverse of the first plain, the reverse of the latter with a chart in red ink containing an extensive list of twenty names of stars, all associated with a letter of the Arabic alphabet, the names written in black ink nasta'liq script, laid on grey paper, in a white cardboard mount, the Gemini folio 22.3cm x 15cm, the Pegasus folio 17.8cm x 11cm, 29.5cm x 42cm including the mount.