Folio from an Automata by al-Jazari; recto: Mechanical device for pouring a drink; verso: text

At the beginning of the thirteenth century, al-Jazari wrote the Kitab fi ma'r'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya (Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices), popularly called the Automata, and dedicated it to Amir Nasruddin Muhammad (r. 1202-22), the Artukid (1102-1408) ruler of Diyarbakir. The manuscript is devoted to the explanation and construction of fifty mechanical devices divided into six categories. Each category of the book is subdivided into chapters and sections that detail the various components necessary to make the mechanical devices.

This folio comes from chapter 8 of the second category of devices ("On the Construction of Vessels Figures Suitable for Drinking Sessions"). The text describes how the figure of a man is constructed with a series of inner tubes connecting his hands to a reservoir under his cap. Wine is poured into the reservoir when the cap is removed. When the device is ready, the cap is replaced and brought before the guests. After about seven or eight minutes, wine begins to flow into the goblet held in the figure's hand. The small drawings at the bottom of the page describe how to make the hand of the goblet; the axle in his elbow; the jar and the upper arm; the siphon in the jar; the wine reservoir; the trough and the tipping bucket; the narrow pipe connected to the side of the bucket's trough and extending through the left hand into the neck of the bottle; and the bottle.