FROM THE LIBRARY OF SULTAN BAYEZID II, OTTOMAN TURKEY, CIRCA 1460-80 AD

The provenance of this manuscript is attested by the seal of Sultan Bayezid II (r. 1481-1512) stamped on the first folio. The imperial library was systematically catalogued under Bayezid and most of the manuscripts known to have been in the library bear his stamps. The first folio of this prayer book has an inscription in riq'a script giving the title of the work. This hand is thought possibly to be that of Bayezid II. Another manuscript, published by Julian Raby and Zeren Tanindi, has an additional important inscription stating that the note was done in 'the noble hand of Sultan Bayezid' (Julian Raby and Zeren Tanindi, Turkish Bookbinding in the 15th Cent ury, London, 1993, no.83, p.102). If this identification is correct then there can be no doubt that this manuscript too, holds an identification inscription done by the Sultan, indicating his involvement of the cataloguing and organising of his library (Raby and Tanindi, op. cit., 1993, p. 101). Three manuscripts, including two treatises on astronomy prepared for Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror, and sold in Christie's, King Street Rooms, 8 October 2008, lots 375 and 376 and 13 April 2010, lot 206, also bear an identification inscription in the same hand attributable to Sultan Bayezid II.

The inscription on the first folio of the present manuscript indicates that another work, a compendium on Ethics was originally bound with it.
The illuminated panels decorating our manuscript, painted with relatively loose gold floral scrolls on dark blue ground are very similar to those visible on the two treatises on astronomy from the Library of Sultan Bayezid II mentioned above, dated 1479 AD and which sold in Christie's, King Street Rooms, 13 April 2010, lot 206. It is very probable that our manuscript was too illuminated in Constantinople circa 1480.