Kalīla wa-Dimna is one of the best-known texts of medieval Arabic literature and counts among the most illustrated works in the Islamic world. The extent of the corpus and its journey through the ages make it the ideal material for a reflection on the evolution of iconography in Islamic art. The studies gathered in this volume edited by Eloïse Brac de la Perrière, Aïda El Khiari and Annie Vernay-Nouri, showcase a wide diversity of approaches that convincingly crosses textual investigation, codicology, iconographical study, and physico-chemical analyses. They explore new tracks, either by devoting themselves to the examination of unknown or rarely studied manuscripts, or by proposing innovative readings of this extremely rich work that is Kalīla wa-Dimna.
Eloïse Brac de la Perrière, Ph. D. (2002), is Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture at Sorbonne University. A specialist of the Persianate world, her publications include Autour du coran de Gwalior (2016) and Lâart du livre dans lâInde des sultanats (2008).
Aïda El Khiari is a Ph.D. Student at Sorbonne University where she is currently completing her doctoral thesis which focuses on a virtually unknown corpus â illustrated Arabic manuscripts produced in Egypt and Syria during the Ottoman period.
Annie Vernay-Nouri is a specialist in Arabic manuscripts and was chief curator in the Department of Oriental Manuscripts at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. She has curated many exhibitions and her publications include among others Lâart du livre arabe (2001).
2 The Donkeyâs Ears and Heart: Reshaping, Rewriting, Adapting, and Enlightening the KalÄ«la wa-Dimna Text in Two Medieval Persian Versions
âChristine van Ruymbeke
5 Histoires de transmissionsâ: un manuscrit arabe du xiiie siècle et ses copies tardives
âAnnie Vernay-Nouri
6 Confluence of Cultures: The Rabat Kalīla and Dimna and Its Copy
âBernard OâKane
partie 3: Construire lâimage / Building the Image
7 Perles de sagesseâ: peintures dâune copie mamelouke du SulwÄn al-muá¹ÄÊ¿ fi Ê¿udwÄn al-atbÄÊ¿
âMounia Chekhab-Abudaya
8 Les tribulations dâun manuscrit à peintures, ou comment fabriquer une illustration à partir de plusieurs modèles
âÃloïse Brac de la Perrière
9 Ãtude de la matière picturale de six KalÄ«la wa-Dimna et dâun MaqÄmÄt (xiiie-xviiie siècle)
âNathalie Buisson et Annie Vernay-Nouri
partie 4: Adaptations orientales / Oriental Adaptations
10 Simple exotisme ou contestation subliminaleâ: les costumes mongols dans le KalÄ«la wa-Dimna de Rabat (BRR 3655)
âYves Porter, en collaboration avec Richard Castinel