Author
Istanbul
Publication Date
1730-1754
Type
Document
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Library
Chester Beatty
Record ID
T 447
Library Location
Turkish collection
Date
1730-1754
Notes
Ottoman album (muraqqa'), with calligraphy, views of the holy sites, and a world map. This album was put together in early eighteenth-century Istanbul, during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Mahmud I. Organised with gold-painted borders throughout, the album combines examples of fine Arabic calligraphy by Ottoman masters of the seventeenth century (such as Dervish `Ali and Hafiz Osman), and (possibly) the older master Mir `Ali Haravi from Iran. These beautiful lines quote from the Qur'an, and from Hadith literature (describing the Prophet's actions). As well as calligraphy, the album preserves four aerial views of famous holy sites: Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem, the Ka`ba sanctuary in Mecca, the Prophet's mosque in Medina, and the Selimiye mosque of Ottoman Sultan Selim II (r. 1566-74) in Edirne. The final folio is a diagrammatic map of the world, with the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe. Album, ink, colours and gold on paper with leather edging, 9 folios with illuminated floral and foliate borders, Arabic calligraphy in naskh, thuluth, nasta`liq, and tughra scripts: twelve calligraphy samples in Arabic (including Hadith and Qur'an quotations), signed Hafiz Osman (d. 1698, fols. 1v-2r), Dervish `Ali (d. 1673, fols. 3r-5r), `Ali (possibly Mir `Ali Haravi, d. 1544, fol. 7v), three unsigned (fols. 5v, 6r, 7r) and the (unsigned) tughra of Ottoman Sultan Mahmud I (r. 1730-54, fol. 8v), four topographical views of Mecca (fol. 2v), Medina (fol. 6v), Jerusalem (fol 8r), and Selimiye mosque in Edirne (fol. 9r, signed Qayyim-bashi, son of treasurer (sadiqa-khazine) of Aya Sofya), and a world map (fol. 9v), album compiled Ottoman Istanbul, Turkey, c. 1730-1754.
Materyal
Paper (material), Pigment (material), Ink (material), Gold
Nesne Adı
Codex
Yazı Tipi
Thuluth script, Naskh script, Nasta'liq script
