Contributor |
Du Simitière, Pierre Eugène, approximately 1736-1784, collector. |
Title |
[Arabic fragment, a West African gris-gris] [graphic]. |
Publisher |
Haiti. Léogâne. 1773 |
Date |
[Léogâne, Haiti] |
Date |
January 1773 |
Physical Description |
1 drawing : ink ; sheet 6 x 29 cm (2.25 x 10.25 in.) |
Description |
Contains a line of text from the Koran written in a courtly hand by an enslaved, educated, black Islamic priest. Translated
text reads: In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful Say: He is Allah, the One and Only! Allah, the Eternal, Absolut;
He begetteth not nor is He begotten. And there is none like unto Him.
|
Notes |
Title from LCP exhibition catalogue: Pierre Eugene Du Simitière. His American Museum 200 years after, entry #5:21. |
|
Date from manuscript note on recto: the above was written in my presence by a negro m[a]nding[o] at Leoganne in January 1773
DuSimitiere.
|
|
Du Simitière, a Swiss-born historian, antiquarian, and artist, traveled and documented North America and the West Indies from
the 1750s to 1770s. He settled in Philadelphia in 1774, and in 1782 opened the American Museum, which contained his collected
antiquities.
|
|
Purchase at auction, Du Simitière's American Museum, March 10, 1785. |
|
Explanation of translation in Du Simitière research file, Graphic Arts Department. |
|
Description revised 2021. |
|
Access points revised 2021. |
|
Part of digital collections catalog through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the
Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of the Commonwealth Libraries, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
Tom Corbett, Governor, 2013-2014.
|
Subject |
Koran. |
|
Calligraphy, Arabic. |
|
Islam -- Haiti -- Léogâne. |
|
Mandingo (African people) -- Spiritual life. |
|
Magic drawings -- Haiti -- Léogâne. |
|
Enslaved persons -- Haiti -- Léogâne. |
|
Enslaved men -- Haiti -- Léogâne. |
Geographic subject |
Léogâne (Haiti) |
Genre |
Calligraphy -- 1770-1780. |
Provenance |
Du Simitière, Pierre Eugène, approximately 1736-1784, collector. |
Location |
Library Company of Philadelphia| Print Department| Du Simitière Collection [961.F.5d] |
Accession number |
961.F.5d |