OTTOMAN TURKEY, EARLY 18TH CENTURY WITH LATER ADDITIONS

Taken from the Arabic word for a chain, a silsilenama traces a line of intellectual or familial descent from the present back to the creation of the world. Down the middle of this scroll run a list of the leaders of the Eshrefi branch of Qadiriyya Sufis. As the scroll demonstrates, they claimed their descent straight from the Prophet via Hasan ibn Ali. The scroll continues far before that to continue the genealogy through pre-Islamic prophets like Nuh, Ibrahim, and Idris. Possession of this document underlined the order’s claim to spiritual distinction as inheritors of the traditions of the Prophet.

Running parallel to the Sayyids’ line of descent, on the left hand side in orange circles is the succession of Ottoman sultans. Unlike their contemporaries in Iran or Morocco, the Ottomans did not themselves claim descent from the Prophet. Instead, the line of Osman branches off from that of the Qadiriyya with Noah/Nuh. While the Prophet was descended from Sam, the Ottomans claimed descent from Yafith. The line of the Ottoman sultans then continues unbroken until the reign of Sultan Mustafa II (r.1695-1703), during whose reign the scroll was originally prepared, when the Eshrefi order was led by Saykh Mehmed II Eshrefi Qadiri. The line is then resumed until the reign of Abdulhamid I (r.1774-89), when there is another break before finishing in the reign of Mahmud II (r. 1808-1839). The fact that the scroll continued to be updated shows its importance as a document which its owners would use to confirm their social privileges as descendants of the Prophet.

Silsilenama codices are known from as early as the 16^th century, such as an example in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin dated to AH 1006/1598 AD (CBL T 423). Others in scroll format include an example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which also seems to have been updated after its original completion in the reign of Suleyman I (Acc.no.67.272). An example of another silsilenama, albeit later in date than the present lot, was sold by Sotheby’s London, 24 April 2012, lot 262.