Description:

KITAB AL-YAGHUT AL-HAMRA (THE RED RUBY IN OPTIC COLOUR REFLECTION), WRITTEN BY KARIM IBN IBRAHIM AL-KERMANI, CALLIGRAPHY BY BAHA U'D-DIN MOHAMMAD LAHIJANI, DATED 1267 AH / 1850-51 AD
Qajar Iran, 19th century

Description:
A rare and remarkable illustrated manuscript exploring the intersection of optics, physics, and medicine, authored by Karim ibn Ibrahim al-Kermani, a key Ismaili thinker of the Qajar period. Titled Kitab al-Yaghut al-Hamra (The Red Ruby), this scientific-philosophical treatise discusses the nature of vision, colour perception, and spiritual metaphysics, incorporating theories of light and anatomy.

The manuscript is exquisitely copied in clear naskh script by the well-known scribe Baha u'd-Din Mohammad Lahijaniand is dated 1267 AH / 1850-51 AD. Of particular note are the vivid geometric and anatomical diagrams, which elucidate concepts of optical cones, light refraction, and colour transmission—a rare survival of Islamic scientific visualisation in the late manuscript tradition.

The work features red rubrication, marginal notes in black, and numerous illustrative diagrams coloured in red, black, blue, and ochre, some of which depict the anatomical structure of the eye and the pathways of light.

Dimensions:
Length: 21 cm
Width: 14.5 cm

Comparable Examples:

  • A late Safavid illustrated manuscript on astronomy and optics, with diagrammatic representation of celestial geometry, sold at Sotheby’s, Arts of the Islamic World, 1 May 2019, Lot 68, for £18,750.

  • An optical treatise by Ibn al-Haytham with illustrations, Qajar Iran, 19th century, sold at Christie’s, Islamic Manuscripts, 25 October 2022, for £22,500.

  • A scientific manuscript from Qajar Persia with coloured diagrams and medical content sold at Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, 2020, for £12,000.

Note:
This manuscript represents a rare synthesis of mystical philosophy and scientific inquiry in Qajar Iran. Al-Kermani, a prolific figure within the Shaykhi school, utilised natural science as a metaphorical framework for religious and cosmological speculation. His visual explanations of optical theory, rendered in manuscript form, are among the few extant examples bridging medieval Islamic science and 19th-century Shi’a scholasticism. This copy’s precision in both calligraphy and illustration reflects its intended use for scholarly and esoteric circles.

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May 6, 2025 1:00 PM BST
London, United Kingdom

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