Sharh Qanun ibn Sina

What it is

This illuminated manuscript page is from Qutb al-Din Mahmud Shirazi's commentary on Avicenna's Canon of Medicine, titled Sharh Qanun ibn Sina. It is held in the Khalili Collections of Islamic Art.

Why it matters

Avicenna's Canon became so influential that later scholars, like Qutb al-Din Shirazi, wrote detailed commentaries explaining and expanding it. This page is evidence of a long Persian and Islamic tradition of studying, debating and teaching Avicenna's medicine for centuries after he wrote it.

Look closer

• Why would later scholars write whole commentaries on someone else's book rather than new books of their own?
• What does the elaborate decoration of this page suggest about how important the Canon was considered?
• What might a commentary add or change compared to Avicenna's original text?