Page 108 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

embellished with gold drawings, frequently saz scrolls. Pasted on the last pair of facing folios are two tinted draw-
Near the conclusion of the volume are two calligraphic ex- ings with typical saz themes. On the left (49e) is a ferocious
ercises: one is in the form of a lion, the other composed of dragon stalking through dense foliage that it rips apart with
large letters enclosing a minuscule script. The folio that fol- its claws. The sinuous curve of its back, accentuated by a
lows them contains a remarkable kaati garden executed in thick black line, is almost calligraphic in execution. Its flam-
colored papers and pasted together, creating a three-dimen- ing wings that spring from both front and back legs are ren-
sional painting. This technique, first observed in calligraphy, dered in silver and gold, while soft strokes and washes re-cre-
appears to have been applied to a pictorial representation by ate the scaly body. The exuberant foliage growing from
the middle of the sixteenth century. 102 The floral elements are clusters contains feathery leaves overlapping and piercing the
layered and stand in relief, protected by a transparent sheet blossoms, and hatayis sprouting additional flowers and buds.
covering the surface and sides. It is difficult to determine The drawing was cropped around the edges and pasted side-
whether the calligraphic exercises were produced in the Otto- ways on the page. It is enclosed by blue and gold frames us-
man or the Safavid court; the kaati garden, on the other ing the same dimensions as the one on the facing folio and
hand, is of local origin, decorated with spring flowers and placed on gold-speckled pink paper.
trees. The drawing on the right (49f) depicts a spray of hatayi

49e and 49f. Dragon (left) and hatayi blossoms (right) from an album, mid-
sixteenth century (Istanbul Université Kütüphanesi, F. 1426, fols. 48a and
47b)

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