Page 106 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

Two saz-style drawings were also incorporated in an album on a bookbinding is, however, most unusual. The doublures,
prepared around 1560, presumably for Süleyman. This re- lined in brownish-red leather, have the same format as the
markable collection contains samples of calligraphy executed exterior, with highly refined saz scrolls filling the gold-
by renowned Iranians, each page exquisitely illuminated by a stamped areas. Another unusual feature of the album is the
master of the nakka§hane. polychrome saz scrolls painted on its flyleaves, which were
The volume was bound with a unique tortoiseshell cover traditionally either left blank or made from marbled paper.
with stamped and gilded leather doublures (49a). The design The first pair of folios (49b) contains the Fatiha Suresi, the
of the exterior follows the traditional format of a central me- opening chapter of the Koran, written in six lines of talik by
dallion with axial pendants, corner quadrants, and a wide §ah Mahmud Niçapuri, a renowned calligrapher who worked
frame enclosed by thin bands filled with alternating ovoid in Tabriz. He was so highly regarded that the Safavid ruler
and quatrefoil cartouches. These areas are outlined with silver Ismail is rumored to have hidden him together with Behzad
strips and lined with gold leaf, and thus differentiated from when Tabriz was captured by Selim I, considering both men
the field. Tortoiseshell cut in paper-thin plaques and lined his most valued treasures. Although there is little truth to this
with gold leaf was frequently used in furnishings, doors, and story, §ah Mahmud, who died in 1545, was equally revered
cupboards. 101 The employment of this material and technique in the Ottoman court; his calligraphic works were collected

49b. Frontispiece transcribed by §ah Mahmud Ni^apuri c. 1530-1540 from
an album illuminated c. 1560 (Istanbul Université Kütüphanesi, F. 1426, ibis.
2b-3a)

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