Among the numerous illuminated manuscripts of the Maqāmāt of al-Ḥarīrī, there is one in the British Museum (Or. 9718) that has not received the attention it deserves. It contains several miniatures, which are vivid illustrations of everyday life in the Mamlūk realm, and some that are of special importance for the history of medieval Saracenic costume. Unfortunately, these miniatures are not very photogenic, some of them having been repaired with a gauze-like material, but luckily they have not been restored or overpainted except for the faces, which are very often blotted out. Of particular value is a miniature at the beginning of the fifteenth maqāmā (fol. 53ʾ), since it reveals the name of the artist and his country of origin. It shows abū Zayd in Ḥāriṯ b. Hammāmʾs house. The trefoil arch under which they are sitting, the conventional representation of a private house in this and many other contemporary manuscripts, is crowned with a ṭirāz, the inscription of which reads:
صنعه غازي ابن عبد الرحمن الدمشقي
Work of Ġāzī ibn ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān ad-Dimašqī
The date given in the colophon of the volume (corresponding to 1271 CE) is a modern addition and has nothing to do with either text or illumination. When the manuscript is again available for study, I hope to be able to respond to the kind invitation of the editor of Ars Islamica and give a full description of the miniatures of this codex.
Ars islamica v. 9, University of Michigan Press, 1942 (p. 168).
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