.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Chronicles recording the activities of the Ottoman State were produced since the formative years of the empire but the tradition of illustrated histories really became firmly established in the 1560s. The painting on the recto side of this folio, comes from just such a history. Historians of Süleyman’s reign were extremely prolific, writing voluminous texts devoted to universal histories as well as past and present accounts of the Ottoman dynasty and descriptions of specific campaigns and political events (Esin Atil, The Age of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, exhibition catalogue, Washington D.C., 1987, p.78). Our painting shares a number of features those of this genre, for instance the depictions in Nasuh al-Silahi al-Matraki (Matrakci Nasuh)’s Beyan-i Menazil-i Sefer-i Irakeyn (Depictions of the halting stations during the Irakeyn campaign) which was devoted to Süleyman’s 1534-36 campaign to Iraq and Iran and completed around 1537. Like the famous painting of Istanbul in that manuscript our artist shows architecture depicted both frontally and from the air in a documentary manner (Nurhan Atasoy and Feliz ?agman, Turkish Miniature Painting, Istanbul, 1974, pl.6). Details such as the small inlet, the large tower and the various clusters of buildings are deliberately drawn – in an attempt to accurately capture the town it depicts. Like other known paintings of this style the big expanses – of water or land, are often filled with repeated minor motifs – in the ground here small sprays of tulips, and in the sea tight scrolls.
The other side of the folio has a calligraphy by Malik Daylami (AH 924-969/1518-62 AD) - a famous nasta'liq scribe who originally worked at the library of the Safavid Prince Sultan Ibrahim Mirza in Mashhad. He was later called by Shah Tahmasp to Qazvin to write the inscriptions of the Chehel Sutun. He then remained at his court until his death. The famous Shah Tahmasp Album in the Topkapi was produced under his supervision (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va Asar-e Khosh-Nevisan, Vol. III, Tehran, 1348, pp.598-609). His recorded works are dated between AH 950 and 969 (1543 and 1562 AD).
The other side of the folio has a calligraphy by Malik Daylami (AH 924-969/1518-62 AD) - a famous nasta'liq scribe who originally worked at the library of the Safavid Prince Sultan Ibrahim Mirza in Mashhad. He was later called by Shah Tahmasp to Qazvin to write the inscriptions of the Chehel Sutun. He then remained at his court until his death. The famous Shah Tahmasp Album in the Topkapi was produced under his supervision (Mehdi Bayani, Ahval va Asar-e Khosh-Nevisan, Vol. III, Tehran, 1348, pp.598-609). His recorded works are dated between AH 950 and 969 (1543 and 1562 AD).