The Visual Origin of Human Anatomical Illustration in Islamic Iran: A Study of the Transition and Transformation of Anatomical Imagery from Europe to Iran

Document Type : Research/Original/Reqular Article

Authors

1 Department of Comparative and Analytical History of Islamic Art, Faculty of Theoretical Sciences and Advanced Art Studies, Iran University of Art, Tehran,

2 PhD Candidate in Comparative and Analytical History of Islamic Art, Faculty of Theoretical Sciences and Advanced Art Studies, Iran University of Art,, Tehran

3 Department of Comparative and Analytical History of Islamic Art, Faculty of Theoretical Sciences and Advanced Art Studies, Iran University of Art,, Tehran.

10.22059/jihs.2026.409080.371867

Abstract

The present study aims to investigate the anatomical illustrations of the human body found in drawings remaining from the era following the Muslim conquest of Iran covering the 9th through 11th centuries in the lunar calendar. The study is primarily focused on the illustrated treatise written by Manṣūr ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf ibn Ilyās, a physician from Shiraz, in light of the iconographic traditions of the medieval Europe. The main objective of this study is to identify the visual origins, channels of knowledge transfer, and processes of adaptation and recreation of illustrations in the interactions between the two cultures. This library research employs field study techniques and a descriptive-analytic approach to collect visual and textual data for the analysis of anatomical illustrations. Findings indicate that the convention of anatomical illustrations in the Islamized Iran has been established independently of the European texts on dissection. However, in terms of the form and figure organization, it has been affected by the European visual patterns of the middle ages. It is noteworthy, though, that this adaptation has not been a direct imitative one. In fact, during the transfer process, the images have passed through the filter of aestheticism and ethnic drawing conventions and, while been kept untouched in the roots, have been recreated. Consequently, these images enjoy distinct peculiarities while still benefitting from the structural fundaments of the European patterns. A comparative study of the history of medicine in Iran and Europe indicates that the origins of the modern anatomy in Europe, particularly the systematic dissection and pre-renaissance illustrations, are owing to the transfer of medical texts and knowledge from Greece via the medium of Islam. In the Islamized Iran, despite limitations associated with practical dissection, the illustrations of human anatomy and dissection have played a pivotal role in the establishment of the principles of medical training. These illustrations apply a combination of artistic and scientific norms to pave the way for the creation of an interdisciplinary visual language for the transfer of knowledge. The current study surpasses the mere analysis of apparent similarities and differences to reveal the channels for the transfer of knowledge between the European and Islamic cultures and the interaction of the two traditions. This helps to redefine the significance of illustrations as an independent means for the transfer of medical knowledge.

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References

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URL2: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-GONVILLE-AND-CAIUS-00190-00223/1
URL3:https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/2b7310aa-9199-4a5b 93fb4f5f075ca28a/surfaces/15a20263-f647-4913-9089-a9efbb37225c/
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