The translation was made by Nathan ha-Meati in 1279 in Rome. About 100 Hebrew manuscripts of the Qanun have been preserved; most of them are not decorated and do not contain illustrations, but their number reflects the importance of the text for Jewish medicine at the time.
In Italy, Jewish and Christian cultures cohabited fairly harmoniously throughout the late middle ages, which lead to an artistic culmination of an exclusive and rich Hebrew book illumination. A number of copies of Qanun translations were illuminated in Spain and Italy in the 15th century, but none is as richly illuminated as the copy preserved in Bologna, a manuscript outstanding in its rich decoration and its extraordinary miniatures.
This fact also converts the manuscript in the most important profane Hebrew codex. At the same time it is a testimony of Italian culture and life of the time and reflects the important role of Jewish medicines in medieval Europe. The Bologna manuscript dates from the second half of the 15th century and was copied in northern Italy. It contains 532 parchment folios in a 40×27cm format. The text is written in an Italian cursive known as Rashi script.
The binding is from the 16th century, morocco leather blind-tooled with metal decorations and leather straps. The scribe was Yshaq ben Obadiah ben David de Forli. The codex was in private hands before entering the library of a Dominican convent, from which it was stolen at the end of the 18th century by Napoleonic troops and removed to France. After the Emperor’s fall it was returned to the Pontifical Library of Bologna (today the University Library).
You can learn more about the topic in the book-album "The Cultural legacy of Uzbekistan in Italian Collections" (volume XXXII) in the series "Cultural Legacy of Uzbekistan in the World Collections".
The general sponsor of the project is the oilfield services company Eriell-Group.
