Kitāb al-bayṭara

The Kitāb al-bayṭara (Arabic: كتاب البيطرة, "Book of Farriery" or "Book of Hippiatrics" ) is a 12th-century Arabic treatise on horse medicine by Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Aḥnaf.

Manuscripts
Two illustrated manuscripts of the text are known, produced by the same artist, ʿAlī ibn Ḥasan ibn Hibatallāh, dating to 1209 (Cairo, Egyptian National Library and Archives, Khalil Agha F8) and 1210 (Istanbul, Topkapı Library, TSMK, A. 2115) are known.

The 1209 copy manuscript is dated to 1209 through its colophon; the colophon also indicates that it was produced in Baghdad. It is the only pre-Mongol illustrated manuscript whose place of production is securely attributed to Baghdad, which makes it a key work in trying to define a "Baghdad School" of illustrated manuscripts before the Mongol Siege of Baghdad in 1258. The manuscript depicts horse-riders who wear the Turkic sharbūsh headgear.

The 1210 copy does not mention Baghdad, but is considered a copy of the 1209 manuscript, made by the same calligrapher.

The Kitāb al-bayṭara has been used as an artistic reference to try to attribute a famous 1237 CE Maqāmāt al-Ḥarīrī manuscript (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Arabe 5847) to Baghdad as well. The attempt is based on a certain level of artistic similarity, but this attribution remains uncertain, and the place of production of the BNF Arabe 5847 remains unsure and it can only said to have been made between Syria and Iraq.

Another illustrated manuscript which is tentatively attributed to pre-Mongol Baghdad is the dispersed 1224 Dioscorides (De Materia Medica 1224). Here again, attribution to Baghdad remains tentative, and a more cautious attribution, such as "Iraq or Northern Jazira, possibly Baghdad" is often preferred.