AL-BAYTAR, Abu Bakr Ibn al-Mundhir

This curious and very attractive Arabic manuscript is a treatise on farriery and equine medicine, identified as a supplement to the work, Kashif al-Wayl fi Amrad al-Khayl (The Unveiler of Woe regarding the Diseases of Horses) by the 14th-century veterinarian Abu Bakr ibn al-Mundhir al-Baytar. The text is executed in a neat Naskh black ink, with red ink utilized for headings and significant terms. The volume is distinguished by 13 large, hand-painted diagrams of horseshoe designs in heavily applied black and red pigments, illustrating various styles such as Arabic shoeing and ring shoeing. The colophon on the final page records the completion of the manuscript on Thursday, 21 Dhu al-Hijjah 1040 AH, which corresponds to February 1630-1631 AD.