The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of March 28, 2024
Peacock-shaped Hand Washing Device: Illustration from The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (Automata) of Inb al-Razza al-Jazari (recto)
1315
Overall: 31.3 x 21.5 cm (12 5/16 x 8 7/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1945.383.a
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
The mouth of the peacock acts as a spigot pouring water; the figure emerged from a small door and offers soap to the hand washer.Description
This leaf from a 1315 Syrian copy of Ibn al-Razzāz al-Jazarī’s The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, written in 1206, depicts a peacock basin automaton for ritual hand washing. There are 15 surviving manuscript copies of al-Jazarī’s work, ranging from the early 13th to the late 19th century. An engineer from upper Mesopotamia, al-Jazarī was in the service of King Nasrī al-Dīn when he completed his masterwork, an anthology of automated devices including clocks, trick vessels for drinking sessions, devices for washing, fountains, water-raising machines, and measuring instruments. His designs clearly illustrate that automata were not innovations from Western Europe, but they stemmed from a tradition known in the ancient, Islamic, and Byzantine worlds. We do not know with certainty that al-Jazarī’s device was ever actually constructed.- ?-1945(Hagop Kevorkian [1872–1962], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1945-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 717 archive.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 221 archive.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 221 archive.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 278 archive.orgSuchman, Lucille Alice. Human-Machine Reconfigurations: Plans and Situated Actions. 2007. Cover www.cambridge.orgFliegel, Stephen N., and Elina Gertsman. Myth and Mystique: Cleveland's Gothic Table Fountain. 2016. pp. 104-107, Cat. no. 4Mikolic, Amanda. The Art of Handwashing. The Cleveland Museum of Art The Thinker Blog on Medium. April 10, 2020. medium.com
- Myth and Mystique: Cleveland’s Gothic Table Fountain. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 9, 2016-February 26, 2017).
- {{cite web|title=Peacock-shaped Hand Washing Device: Illustration from The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (Automata) of Inb al-Razza al-Jazari (recto)|url=false|author=|year=1315|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1945.383.a