The Effect of the Position of the Stars on Human Drawings in Two Versions of Suwar al-Kawākib in the 9th Century AH/15th Century AD

"Kitab Suwar Al-Kawākib" (Book of Fixed Stars) written by Abd al-Rahman Sufi Razi (291-376 AH/903-986 AD) is one of the most famous books of ancient astronomy. This book is an illustrated map of the sky that includes the celestial coordinates, color, apparent magnitude and variable luminosity of the stars, constellation information tables, as well as the detailed classification of the stars of each constellation in terms of brightness. In this book, eight non-stellar objects have also been recorded by the author. The constellations have two images for each constellation, one for the sky and the other for the celestial sphere. It seems that the illustrations of the images, which (like other scientific books) started from the first manuscripts to help better understand the difficult contents, have continued in the later manuscripts, and the illustrators, in addition to maintaining the general state of the drawings, have used the artistic features of their period. Recognizing the cryptography of the constellations, both from an artistic and an astronomical point of view requires more attention to the art history of the period in question, as well as to the knowledge of astronomy and astrology.
Among the 48 constellations of Suwar Al-Kawākib, there are 14 human-related names that are structurally divided into two categories: human and imaginary human beings. In the present study, the drawings of the constellations Cepheus, Bootes, Hercules, Cassiopeia, Perseus, Auriga, Ophiuchus, Andromeda, Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Aquarius, Orion and Centaurus, which have human bodies, belonging to two versions of the 9th century AD (820 AH and about 853 AH) have been studied. Both copies belong to the Ulugh Beigh Library. This research has been done from an artistic and astronomical point of view. The main purpose was to answer the question "What changes did the painters of Suwar Al-Kawākib make in the iconography of human paintings in the ninth century AH with the aim of observing the astronomical criteria and the position of the stars?" Regarding the method, the authors of this study, by quantitative and qualitative analysis of the paintings, have dealt with those pictorial differences in iconography and clothing that have astronomical origins; the cases in which the painters, due to astronomical considerations (to record the exact position of the stars), have been forced to make changes in the normal state of the figures, which cannot be justified except for astronomical reasons. Or, because of the shape of the human body, they are forced to make minor displacements in the position of the stars.
During the research, it became clear that the studied paintings, in addition to the relative imitation of the previous versions, also reflect the common patterns of their time in iconography. With the intention of observing scientific accuracy in the exact location and maintaining the astronomical position of the stars, painters have in some cases made unusual changes in the design of some human paintings that have only astronomical reasons. For example, in both books, the protrusion of the horse's buttocks in the constellation Sagittarius and the very long sleeve of the constellation Orion relative to the other sleeve are designed and executed simply because of the precise recording of the stars in that part of the sky. These cases and the like cannot be due to the inability or negligence of the painters, because the other sleeve of Orion (and other sleeves in other figures) as well as the body of the horse in Centaurus or the constellation of Pegasus in these two versions are acceptable and they are conventional.
The research findings show that the painter of Suwar Al-Kawākib in the Library of Congress (2008401028) attempted to record the positions of the stars in order to match the joints of the figures to the stars, which led to distortions in some of the figures. This is not the case with the ARABE5036 version of the National Library of France, and the painter did not necessarily adapt the stars to the joints of the figures in order to become a cause for distortion. The stars in this version are only close to the joints. The proportions of the head, arms, and legs relative to the torso are further observed, and, if necessary, fabric twisters are used to position the stars. Although in this period there are cases where the normal state of the statues has fallen victim to recording the exact position of the stars, but these changes with the intelligence and creativity of painters are much less than similar examples of the past. In general, it can be said that the painters of the constellations in the ninth century AH were able to observe the aesthetic aspect along with astronomical criteria by making small changes in the common traditions of the representation of the constellations, such as the movement of stars on figures and changes in the shape of clothes.