Azhar al-afkar: treatise on gems and stones (al-Tifashi)
Azhar al-afkar: tratado de gemas y piedras (al-Tifashi)
- Date
- c. 1240 · confidence medium
- Place
- Cairo, Egypt
- Credited to
- Ahmad al-Tifashi
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
Al-Tifashi describes in his treatise some twenty-five gems and minerals with their deposits, physical properties, prices and tests for spotting fakes, as well as their supposed medicinal uses. It shows how Islamic mineralogy combined observation, trade and pharmacopoeia.
Born in Tifash (present-day Algeria) and died in Cairo in 1253; the work is dated before his death, with no precise year.
What it led to
- descriptive mineralogy of the Mamluk and Ayyubid courts
- transmission of gemological knowledge to other Arabic and Persian authors