TURKEY, 16TH CENTURY

Details

AN EARLY OTTOMAN BINDING
TURKEY, 16TH CENTURY
Comprising both boards and the flap, the exterior of black morocco decorated with central stamped and gilt cusped medallion filled with delicate floral arabesque, the spandrels similar, within a border of similarly stamped and gilt cusped cartouches alternated with smaller quatrefoils, the spine with four cartouches containing elegant nasta'liq inscriptions, the doublures of red morocco decorated with a central cusped medallion and spandrels filled with delicate decoupé arabesque, later owner's stickers to doublures including that of Frances Hofer
Each board 9 5/8 x 6 1/8in. (4.2 x 15.5cm.)

Provenance

Frances Hofer, (1908-1978)
Adrienne Minassian, 1958

Brought to you by

Andrew Butler-Wheelhouse

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Lot Essay

The inscription on the binding comprises a Turkish quatrain by 'Ali Shir Nava'i.

A flap in the Victoria and Albert Museum, with very similar block stamped gilded medallion, spandrels, border of alternating rectangular and quatrefoil cartouches, and with four panels of verse on the outer spine, is illustrated in Duncan Haldane, Islamic Bookbindings, London, 1983, pl.105, p.109. That example is catalogued as being from Iran. However, the calligraphy in nasta'liq on the outer spine here is in Ottoman Turkish, indicating a Turkish provenance for our binding.

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