Two rare leaves from a Mamluk geomancy manuscript Black... Lot 48

Two rare leaves from a Mamluk geomancy manuscript Black and red ink on paper. Levant, 14th century. 25 x 17 cm (view) These two rare leaves are composed (on the recto and verso of each) of a title in black ink on either side of a central medallion in the upper part, followed by a text in black and red ink spread over 13 lines. Each of these four pages refers to a "geomantic figure", whose symbol - a series of red dots - is inscribed in the central medallion at the top of the page: - the first refers to al-Inkis (Turned upside down, upside down, with top down and bottom up) ; - the second al-Nusra al-Kharija (help, relief, external assistance) ; - the third Shakl al-Humra (the red) ; - the fourth al-'Ataba al-Kharija (the outer threshold, outer walk, vice, defect, outer embarrassment). The texts that follow provide additional information on each of these geomantic figures, including the zodiac sign, star, color and direction to which they correspond, as well as a poetic text on their meaning. Geomancy is an Arabic divinatory technique that was widely practiced in the Islamic world, as evidenced by numerous writings. It is based on 16 geomantic figures made up of sets of dots arranged in 4 rows. Each figure corresponds to a "house", a sign of the zodiac, a planet, a color, a direction, a temperature (hot, cold, humid...) or a taste (fatty, bitter, sweet...). Muslim geomancers practiced divination (discovering the unknown, the future, the past, secrets and mysteries...) by observing a combination of geomantic points or figures, which they could obtain by throwing pebbles or objects randomly onto a flat surface, as well as by counting lines drawn on paper or in sand, or by observing elements present in nature. For an article on the geomancy tradition, see : Jean-Charles Coulon, "Kal?la, Dimna et la géomancie", in Eloïse Brac de la Perrière, Aïda El Khiari & Annie Vernay-Nouri, Les périples de Kalila et Dimna: Quand les fables voyagent dans la littérature et les arts du monde islamique, 2022, Koninklijke Brill NV, pp. 60-91. We would like to thank Will Kwiatkowski for his help in accurately identifying the pages. Provenance : -Collection Jacques CHEVALLIER (1911-1971), homme politique, ancien Ministre, député et Maire de la ville d’Alger. -Par descendance à l’actuel propriétaire.