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Anonimo

Manoscritto Schoenberg LJS 57, Catalonia 1361

Anonimo

Manoscritto Schoenberg LJS 57, Catalonia 1361

Le due tavole che presento in questa scheda sono contenute in un manoscritto medievale che raccoglie diverse opere di tema astronomico e aprono la sezione dedicata al catalogo di Tolomeo, tradotto in lingua ebraica, che riporta la posizione delle stelle calcolata per l’anno 1391. Le due mappe, che rappresentano tutto il cielo conosciuto dai due poli eclittici al cerchio dell’eclittica, pur non rispettando correttamente l’impostazione dei reticoli di riferimento, si distinguono nettamente dalle analoghe precedenti e contemporanee rappresentazioni medievali e possono essere considerate un ponte tra queste e quelle più scientificamente corrette contenute nel manoscritto di Vienna MS 5415, fol. 168r e 170r. databili intorno al 1435-40. http://www.atlascoelestis.com/Manoscritto%20vienna%2001.htm

Tra le costellazioni di Bootes, Orsa Maggiore, Leone e Vergine si può vedere una rara interpretazione della Chioma di Berenice sotto forma di Quadrifoglio stilizzato.

La scheda che segue è tratta dalla presentazione dell’originale di proprietà della Lawrence J. Shoenberg Collection realizzata da Penn Rare Book & Manuscript Library che ringrazio per la cortesia.

http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/medren/pageturn.html?id=MEDREN_4852174&rotation=0&currentpage=123

Title:

[Astronomical anthology] [manuscript].

Origin:

[Catalonia, ca. 1361]

Physical description:

114 leaves : parchment, col. ill. ; 275 x 204 (190 x 132) mm. bound to 288 x 224 mm .

Language(s):

Hebrew.

Summary:

Collection of astronomical texts, including a copy of a treatise on the calendar originally compiled for Pedro IV, King of Aragon, with an almanac of oppositions and conjunctions of the sun and moon and predictions of lunar and solar eclipses; four short works by the 12th-century scientist Abraham Ibn Ezra on an introduction to astrology, choosing the most auspicious moment for a given activity, the zodiac, and astrology concerning humankind collectively; and a Hebrew translation of Ptolemy's Almagest, with numerous tables, diagrams, and illustrations.

Contents:

1. p.1-23: [Treatise on calendar and leap years / Jacob ben David ben Yom Tov]

2. p.25-60: [Reshit ḥokhmah (Beginning of wisdom) / Abraham ben Meïr Ibn Ezra]

3. p.61-68: [Sefer ha-mivḥarim (Book of elections) / Abraham ben Meïr Ibn Ezra]

4. p.69-86: [Mishpeṭe ha-mazalot (Book of the judgments of the zodiacal signs) / Abraham ben Meïr Ibn Ezra]

5. p.86-93: [Sefer ha-ʻolam (Book of the world) / Abraham ben Meïr Ibn Ezra]

6. p.93-228: [Hebrew translation of Almagest / Ptolemy]

Provenance:

Formerly owned by David Solomon Sassoon (Ms. 823), probably purchased in the mid-1920s.

Sold as part of his collection at auction at Sotheby's ( Zurich ), 5 Nov. 1975, lot 15.

Formerly owned by the Carl Alexander Floersheim Trust for Art and Judaica ( Bermuda ).

Sold at auction at Sotheby's, 10 Dec. 1996, lot 48, to Lawrence J. Schoenberg.

Gift of Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2013.

Related names:

Jacob ben David ben Yom Tov.

Ibn Ezra, Abraham ben Meïr, 1092-1167. Reshit ḥokhmah.

Ibn Ezra, Abraham ben Meïr, 1092-1167. Sefer ha-ʻolam u-maḥberot ha-meshartim kulam.

Ptolemy, 2nd cent. Almagest. Hebrew.

Sassoon, David Solomon, 1880-1942, former owner.

Notes:

Ms. codex.

Title supplied by cataloger.

Foliation: Parchment, iv (modern paper) + 114 + iv (modern paper; [1-228]; modern pagination in pencil, upper outer corners.

Layout: Text written in 2 columns of 37 lines; some leaves ruled in faint ink.

Script:

Written in Sephardic cursive script by multiple hands, one perhaps of a scribe named Moshe (p. 2); headings written in square script.

Decoration:

2 full-page color illustrations in gouache and ink of constellation maps (p. 112-113); 43 smaller illustrations of constellations in gouache and ink with gold bezants for stars (p. 117-144); panel headpiece in interlaced red and green penwork and full border of gold bezants flourished in colored ink (p. 1); numerous full-page diagrams and tables in red and brown ink; Gothic penwork infilling frames on some tables (p. 196-211); headings in red or green ink.

Binding: Modern blind-stamped morocco, with 2 sets of clasps and catches.

Origin:

Written in Catalonia, ca. 1361.

Dimensions of original manuscript:

275 x 204 (190 x 132) mm. bound to 288 x 224 mm .

Indexed / Referenced in:

Described in Convivencia: Jews, Muslims, and Christians in medieval Spain (New York: G. Braziller in association with the Jewish Museum, 1992), no. 26, published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name held at the Jewish Museum ( New York ).

Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg ( London : Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 66-67 (LJS 57).

Described in Illustrating the Phaenomena, Celestial Cartography in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Elly Dekker, Oxford University Press 2013, p. 459-461.

Manuscript location:

Rare Book & Manuscript Library University of Pennsylvania LJS 57