Author
Calligrapher: Sayyid Luqman Assyrian; Painters: Mr. Lutfi, Mullah Qassem, Mr. Othman and their workshop.
Author Original
الخطاط سيد لقمان آشوري؛ الرسامون السيد لطفي والملا قاسم والأستاذ عثمان وورشتهم
Publication Date
993 / 1583
Publication Place
-
Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts
Subject
Smooth and glossy Aharali paper, ink, watercolor, gold inlay, ornamental lacquer technique.
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
الطول: 64.7 سم؛ العرض: 41.3 سم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
1973
Record ID
object;ISL;tr;Mus01;35;ar
Library Location
Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts
Date
993 / 1583
Notes
This work was written in Turkish, in bold cursive and black ink, and is located on 90 sheets of smooth, glossy Aharli paper. There are 55 miniatures depicting topics in the text, some of which are on one page and others on two pages. On pages 1b-2a, you can see two circular medallions bearing an inscription explaining the subject of the work and stating that it was prepared for the treasury of Sultan Murad III. The text was written at a rate of 37 lines per page. The titles and chapter headings were engraved with gold. The decoration includes floral arrangements, arabesques, split palmettes, and themes inspired by Chinese art. While the medallions of the first and second pages contain decorations with floral designs. The ornamental lacquer technique was used on the dark green cover. The outer covers are luxuriously decorated with floral arrangements of gold and silver. Medallions, pendants, and corner pieces can be seen on the inner covers. As for the binding, it is not original. This work, written by Meddah al-Balāt Sayyidulqman, an Assyrian, contains two main sections. The first section begins with the universe and the symbols of the zodiac, then tells stories taken from the Torah, the New Testament, and the Qur’an, which narrates the lives of the prophets and the righteous. These are all illustrated with paintings. The first section ends with a genealogy of the Prophet Muhammad, the four Rightly Guided Caliphs, sultans, and senior government officials in the ruling Islamic dynasties, such as the Umayyads, Abbasids, early Islamic era, Ghaznavids, Khanates, Seljuks, and Tamerlane. The second section begins with Sultan Osman, the founder of the Ottoman dynasty, leading up to Murad III, accompanied by 12 pictures of the Ottoman sultans. It ends with a description of the political events during the reign of these sultans. This work was produced for the treasury of Sultan Murad III. The quality of the paintings, binding and epigraphic decoration made it one of the greatest works of Ottoman art created for the Sultan.
Sample Text
Sevgi Kutluay “Butter Date Manuscript” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;tr;Mus01;35;ar
