"Design for a Cup to Serve Wine at Drinking Parties", Folio from a Book of the Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices by al-Jazari

Kitab fi ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handisiyya ("The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices"), generally known as The Automata, by al-Jazari is the best known treatise from among a series of writings by Muslim scientists and engineers on mechanical devices and gadgets. The book, divided into six parts, describes fifty complicated devices ranging from the practical, such as machines for raising water, to objects of amusement, such as this wine cup. Devising or even constructing complicated automata served mainly as pastimes for rulers and princes.

This leaf, from a dispersed manuscript of The Automata, illustrates the first chapter of Book II "On vessels and figures suitable for drinking parties". The vessel in this illustration resembles a goblet, probably of precious metals, decorated on its main body and wide foot. A bird with open beak rests atop the domed lid which in turn houses the piping and other elements of the device. As wine is poured into the cup, the bird is made to turn about and wistle. Once the cup is full the motion ceases and the cup is offered to the guest whom the bird faces.

Stefano Carboni in [Walker et al. 1994]

Inscription: In Arabic
The inscription and date of this manuscript are contained in folio 207 recto which finishes up the last chapter of the last book, continuing from folio 206 verso. Al-Jazari then makes a few remarks about the great value of his work, and beginning line 8 the scribe writes: "This manuscript is transcribed from the manuscript of the author, God's blessing be upon him. And the letters and their substitutes, and the drawing of the pictures of the chapters, and what he described, he did correctly, and wrote it with his own handwriting- may God be pleased with him." Beginning line 14 the colophon reads: "And praise be to God, the Lord of Worlds, and prayers and peace be upon Lord Muhammad and his family and all his companions. Written by the seeker after God Most High, Farkh ibn Abd al-Latif, the scribe, al-Yakuti almawlawi, praising God Most High and praying for his Prophet Muhammad and his family; at the end of Ramadan the blessed, year 715 A.H. [i.e., December 28, 1315]."
(Translated by F.E. Day, 1956)

Marking: See additional card.

Jack S. Rofe, Scotland (until 1929; his sale, Sotheby's, London, December 12, 1929, nos. 383, 385-387, 582); [ Hagop Kevorkian, New York, by 1930–at least 1953]; [ Kevorkian Foundation, New York, until 1955; sold to MMA]

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Renaissance of Islam: Art of the Mamluks," November 21, 1981–January 10, 1982, suppl. #68-72.

Mexico City. Colegio de San Ildefonso. "Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York," September 30, 1994–January 8, 1995, no. 14.

New York. The Hagop Kevorkian Special Exhibitions Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Making the Invisible Visible," April 2–August 4, 2013, no catalogue.

Robinson, Basil William. The Kevorkian Collection: Islamic and Indian Illustrated Manuscripts, Miniature Paintings and Drawings. New York, 1953. no. 1, p. 10.

Dimand, Maurice S. "An Exhibit of Islamic and Indian Paintings." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n. s., vol. 14 (December 1955). p. 90, ill. (b/w).

Atil, Esin. Renaissance of Islam : Art of the Mamluks. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981. pp. 255–7; describes Book of Knowledge of Mechanical Devices.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, Daniel S. Walker, Arturo Ponce Guadián, Sussan Babaie, Stefano Carboni, Aimee Froom, Marie Lukens Swietochowski, Tomoko Masuya, Annie Christine Daskalakis-Matthews, Abdallah Kahil, and Rochelle Kessler. "Colegio de San Ildefonso, Septiembre de 1994–Enero de 1995." In Arte Islámico del Museo Metropolitano de Arte de Nueva York. Mexico City: Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, 1994. no. 14, pp. 72–73, ill. (b/w).