Page 107 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

and bound into imperial albums. His best writings were as- characteristic of Kara Memi, who must have executed all the
sembled in this volume, their high esteem clearly reflected in illuminations in this manuscript. The artist's naturalistic style
the exquisite decorations enclosing his texts. also appears in margins with delicate red tulips interspersed
It is interesting to note that both halves of the double fron- with blue finials that extend to the gold hatayi scrolls and
tispiece contain the same seven verses from the Fatiha Suresi, cloud bands encircling the edges of the folios.
but the lines in each folio show a different number of words. The decorative themes found on the opening folios were
The signature of the calligraphier is a part of the last line of fully exploited throughout the manuscript, each page show-
the version on the left. §ah Mahmud obviously executed ing an original layout and design (49c and 49d). The text,
them as a demonstration of his expertise in talik, which was pasted horizontally, vertically, or diagonally on the folios, al-
seldom used in the transcription of the Koran. lows ample space for the illuminator, whose repertoire in-
The verses, pasted on the folios, are framed by a wide band cluded both his unique naturalistic genre and the saz style in-
with blue and gold reciprocal arches; its semicircular head itiated by his former master, §ahkulu. Sprays of naturalistic
and tail extensions are filled with blossoming fruit tree flowers and trees contrast with stylized scrolls of rumis, cloud
branches that spring from a cluster of leaves and are painted bands, hatayis, and leaves, each panel employing a different
in polychrome on a deep-blue ground. The latter theme is color scheme. The margins are tinted in various tones and

49c and 49d. Two folios transcribed by §ah Mahmud Ni$apuri c. 1530-1540
from an album illuminated c. 1560 (Istanbul Université Kütüphanesi, F.
1426, fols. 22b and 27a)

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