# "Preparing Medicine from Honey", from a Dispersed Manuscript of an Arabic Translation of De Materia Medica of Dioscorides

**'Abdullah ibn al-Fadl**  
dated 621 AH/1224 CE  
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper  
H. 12 3/8 in. (31.4 cm) W. 9 in. (22.9 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 57.51.21. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/451400).

## About this work

'Abdullah ibn al-Fadl painted this (dated 621 AH/1224 CE). It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Opaque watercolour.** Watercolour made opaque with white or chalk and laid in flat, even layers. Persian and Indian painters ground their colours from minerals, applied them with the finest brushes and burnished the finished page.
- **Watercolour.** Pigment in gum arabic, thinned with water and laid in transparent washes. Nothing white is painted: the light is the paper showing through.
- **Ink on paper.** Ink made from soot and animal glue, ground with water on an inkstone. A single brush can give a hair-fine line or a broad wash, and nothing can be corrected.

### ['Abdullah ibn al-Fadl](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/abdullah-ibn-al-fadl)

## Facts

- Type: Codices
- Real size: about 12 × 9 in (31 × 23 cm). The 11 × 14 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 13th century
- Subjects: Men, Medicine
- Colour: olive
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1222.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1222/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/preparing-medicine-from-honey-from-a-dispersed-manuscript-of-met-451400).