Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti
{{Short description|13th-century Iraqi-Arab painter and calligrapher}}Image:Slaves Zadib Yemen 13th century BNF Paris.jpg in Yemen]]
Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti ({{langx|ar|يحيى بن محمود الواسطي}}) was a 13th-century Iraqi-Arab{{cite book|last1=Makiya|first1=Kanan|authorlink=Kanan Makiya|title=The Monument: Art, Vulgarity, and Responsibility in Iraq|date=1991|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520073760|url=https://archive.org/details/monumentartvulga0000maki|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/monumentartvulga0000maki/page/92 92]|quote=Arab painter al wasiti.|language=en}}{{cite book|last1=Ankori|first1=Gannit|authorlink=Gannit Ankori|title=Palestinian Art|date=2013|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=9781780232416|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pVvqAQAAQBAJ&dq=%22Arab+painter%22+al-Wasiti&pg=PA68|language=en}}{{cite book|title=Explorers: Tales of Endurance and Exploration|date=2010|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9780756675110|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBSCZsQPE6YC&dq=%22Arab+artist+%22+al+wasiti&pg=PA69|language=en}} painter and calligrapher, noted for being the scribe and illustrator of al-Hariri's Maqamat dated 1237 CE (Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Arabe 5847).{{cite book |last1=Grabar |first1=Oleg |title=The Illustrations of the Maqamat |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=10 |url=https://www.islamicmanuscripts.info/reference/books/Grabar-1984-Maqamat-illustrations.pdf}}
==Biography==
Al-Wasiti was probably born in Wasit, south of Baghdad.Jonathan Bloom and Sheila S. Blair (eds), Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture, Oxford University Press, 2009, p.210;
Kember, P. (ed.), Benezit Dictionary of Asian Artists, Oxford University Press, 2012, {{ISBN|9780199923014}} In 1237 he transcribed and illustrated a copy of al-Hariri's Maqamat typically shortened to Maqamat, and also known as the Assemblies,Jonathan Bloom and Sheila S. Blair (eds), Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture, Oxford University Press, 2009, p.294 a series of anecdotes of social satire written by Al-Hariri of Basra. Al-Wasiti's illustrations, which are among the finest examples of a style used in the 13th-century, served as an inspiration for the modern Baghdad art movement in the 20th-century.Wijdan, A. (ed.), Contemporary Art From The Islamic World, p.166
Very little is known about his life. He was from the 13th century school of painting. He was known for his articulate painting style."Yaḥyā ibn Maḥmūd al-Wāsiṭī," in: Encyclopædia Britannica, [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/651229/Yahya-ibn-Mahmud-al-Wasiti Online:]
Illustrations from ''Maqamat''
In total, Maqmat has 96 illustrations, all by al-Wasiti. They are of "outstanding quality with fine composition, expressive figures, and vivid but controlled colours" and provide readers with "fascinating series of glimpses into and commentaries on 13th-century Islāmic life.""Yaḥyā ibn Maḥmūd al-Wāsiṭī," in: Encyclopædia Britannica, [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yahya-ibn-Mahmud-al-Wasiti Online:]
File:Ruler in Turkic dress (long braids, fur hat, boots, fitting coat), in the Maqamat of al-Hariri, 1237 CE, probably Baghdad.jpg|Left frontispiece (1v): ruler in Turkic dress (long braids, Sharbush fur hat, boots, fitting coat), in the Maqamat of al-Hariri, 1237 CE, possibly Baghdad.{{cite journal |last1=Flood |first1=Finbarr Barry |title=A Turk in the Dukhang? Comparative Perspectives on Elite Dress in Medieval Ladakh and the Caucasus |journal=Interaction in the Himalayas and Central Asia |year=2017 |publisher=Austrian Academy of Science Press |page=232 |url=https://www.academia.edu/35061254}}{{sfn|Hillenbrand|2010|p=126 and note 40}}{{harvnb|Contadini|2012|p=126–127}}: "Official" Turkish figures wear a standard combination of a sharbūsh, a three-quarters length robe, and boots. Arab figures, in contrast, have different headgear (usually a turban), a robe that is either full-length or, if three-quarters length, has baggy trousers below, and they usually wear flat shoes or (...) go barefoot (...) P.127: Reference has already been made to the combination of boots and sharbūsh as markers of official status (...) the combination is standard, even being reflected in thirteenth-century Coptic paintings, and serves to distinguish, in Grabar's formulation, the world of the Turkish ruler and that of the Arab. (...) The type worn by the official figures in the 1237 Maqāmāt, depicted, for example, on fol. 59r,67 consists of a gold cap surmounted by a little round top and with fur trimming creating a triangular area at the front which either shows the gold cap or is a separate plaque. A particular imposing example in this manuscript is the massive sharbūsh with much more fur than usual that is worn by the princely official on the right frontispiece on fol. 1v."
File:Possible depiction of al-Hariri, in the Maqamat of al-Hariri, 1237 CE, probably Baghdad.jpg|Right frontispiece (2r): possible depiction of the author al-Hariri himself, in the Maqamat of al-Hariri, 1237 CE, possibly Baghdad.{{sfn|Hillenbrand|2010}}
File:Yahyâ ibn Mahmûd al-Wâsitî 001.jpg|Maqama 10: Ayyubid Governor of Rahba, with Abū Zayd and his son.{{sfn|Contadini|2012|p=143}}
File:Yahyâ ibn Mahmûd al-Wâsitî 003.jpg|Maqama 39: the Queen of Oman giving birth.{{sfn|Shah|1980|p=193}}
File:Yahyâ ibn Mahmûd al-Wâsitî 002.jpg
File:Yahyâ ibn Mahmûd al-Wâsitî 006.jpg
File:Yahyâ ibn Mahmûd al-Wâsitî 007.jpg
File:Yahyâ ibn Mahmûd al-Wâsitî 004.jpg
File:Yahyâ ibn Mahmûd al-Wâsitî 005.jpg
File:Harîrî Schefer - BNF Ar5847 f.51.jpg|
File:Al-Wasiti-Discussion near a village.jpg|
File:Qadi Abbasid - Maqamat Harir 1237.jpg|
See also
{{Arabic culture}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Sources
- {{cite book |last1=Contadini |first1=Anna |title=A World of Beasts: A Thirteenth-Century Illustrated Arabic Book on Animals (the Kitāb Na't al-Ḥayawān) in the Ibn Bakhtīshū' Tradition |date=1 January 2012 |doi=10.1163/9789004222656_005 |publisher=Brill |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004222656_005}}
- {{Cite book |last=Ettinghausen |first=Richard |title=La Peinture arabe |publisher=Skira |year=1977 |location=Geneva |pages=104–124 |language=fr}}
- Translated as {{cite book |last1=Ettinghausen |first1=Richard |title=Arab painting |date=1977b |publisher=New York : Rizzoli |isbn=978-0-8478-0081-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/arabpainting0000etti/page/162/mode/2up}}
- {{cite book |last1=Grabar |first1=Oleg |title=The Illustrations of the Maqamat |date=1984 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=7 |url=https://www.islamicmanuscripts.info/reference/books/Grabar-1984-Maqamat-illustrations.pdf}}
- {{Cite web |last=Grabar |first=Oleg |title=Maqamat Al-Hariri: Illustrated Arabic Manuscript from the 13th century |url=https://www.omifacsimiles.com/brochures/maq.html |access-date=24 January 2023}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Hillenbrand |first1=Robert |title=The Schefer Ḥarīrī: A Study in Islamic Frontispiece Design |journal=Arab Painting |date=1 January 2010 |pages=117–134 |doi=10.1163/9789004236615_011|isbn=978-90-04-23661-5 |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004236615_011|url-access=subscription }}
- {{cite book |last1=Shah |first1=Amina |title=The assemblies of al-Hariri : fifty encounters with the Shaykh Abu Zayd of Seruj |date=1980 |publisher=London : Octagon Press |isbn=978-0-900860-86-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/assembliesofalha00amin/page/n9/mode/2up}}
- {{cite book |last1=Snelders |first1=B. |title=Identity and Christian-Muslim interaction : medieval art of the Syrian Orthodox from the Mosul area |date=2010 |publisher=Peeters, Leuven |url=https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2930050/view}}
- [https://www.1001inventions.com/maqamat/ Al Maqamat: Beautifully Illustrated Arabic Literary Tradition – 1001 Inventions]
{{Commons category|Yahyâ ibn Mahmûd al-Wâsitî}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wasiti, Yahya Ibn Mahmud Al}}
Category:13th-century Arab people
Category:13th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate
Category:Manuscript illuminators