Who is the author of the first colored illustrations on human anatomy?

🔴 A major scientific legacy in the history of medicine

🔴 The colored illustrations reflected in Avicenna’s manuscripts later copied by scribes

At the end of the 15th century, in one of the cities of the Muslim East, under the dim light of an oil lamp, amid the scent of ink and the scratches of a pen, the author could hardly have imagined that his work would later be recognized as a major scientific legacy in the history of medicine.

This unique scientific legacy was the work of Mansur ibn Muhammad ibn Ilyas entitled “Risala dar tashrihi badani insān” (“Treatise on the Anatomy of the Human Body”). The work later became widely known as “Tashrih-i Mansuri”.

A treasure from the Timurid era

Little information has survived about the life of Mansur ibn Ilyas. He was born in the 15th century in Shiraz into an intellectual family that produced scholars, physicians, and poets. The scholar traveled through various cities of the Islamic world, especially visiting Tabriz several times, which was considered a major center of science and culture during the Timurid era.

In 1396 he wrote his famous work “Tashrih-i Mansuri”, dedicating it to Pir Muhammad Bahadur, the grandson of Amir Timur.

The first atlas of human anatomy

Tashrih-i Mansuri holds great importance in the history of medicine as the first colored anatomical atlas. It depicts the human body according to five systems — bones, nerves, muscles, arteries, and veins.

The most significant aspect of the work is that it presented the first colored illustrations of the human body. These illustrations made it possible to transmit medical knowledge visually and marked a new stage in the development of anatomy.

Illustrations from Mansur ibn Ilyas’s work were later used in the copied manuscripts of such great scholars as Avicenna and Ismail Jurjani. As Dr. Fakhriddin Ibragimov, Doctor of Philosophy in Historical Sciences, emphasized,

some of the illustrations may have been inspired by earlier Greek and Latin scholars, but the depiction of a pregnant woman is considered an entirely original creation.

Manuscripts of this treatise are preserved in libraries in Uzbekistan, Iran, India, Europe, and the United States. Four copies are kept in the collection of the Institute of Oriental Studies named after Abu Rayhan Beruni in Tashkent.

As the first work to illustrate human anatomy in color in medieval medicine, Tashrih-i Mansuri is of great importance. Its presentation in the Second Renaissance section of the exhibition at the Center of Islamic Civilization is expected to highlight the progress of science and anthropology in Islamic civilization.

Gavhar Eshonqulova

P/S: The article may be used with reference to the official website of the Center.