Page 54 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

when older manuscripts were decorated and rebound in the the volume was rebound in gold-stamped leather covers with
court studios. filigree doublures, following the style of the mid-sixteenth
One such example is the second part of a thirty-volume century. Each line of text was enclosed by a contour band,
Koran transcribed by Yakut el-Mustasimi in 1282/1283, the field was painted gold and decorated with floral scrolls,
which was refurbished in the mid-sixteenth century. Yakut, and gold drawings with hatayi scrolls were applied to the
who established the canons that formed the basis of calli- margins of the folios.
graphic styles for centuries to come, was born in Amasya and The double serlevha (13) is the most elaborate section of
entered the services of the caliph of Baghdad, el-Mustasim the manuscript. The horizontal and vertical panels enclosing
(1242-1258), whose name he adopted as his honorific. the text and the wide frame composed of reciprocal arches
Thought to have died in 1298 or 1299, he is reputed to have are beautifully designed and integrated into the composition.
written 1001 Korans. Although the figure appears exagger- The artist was not only an expert painter but also a designer
ated, Yakut was prolific. A large number of his Korans are of illuminated folios.
kept in the Topkapi Palace and other collections; an equal The same meticulous care is found in the decoration of an-
number of fraudulent imitations bear his name, which attests other Koran that was transcribed in nesih by Abdullah Say-
to his reputation and popularity. rafi, a master from Tabriz thought to have written some three
The text of the 1283/1284 Koran of Yakut, written in mu- dozen Korans. This calligraphier, who died in 1342, had stud-
hakkak, was carefully cut out and pasted on new sheets and ied with Yakut and was renowned for his nesih script. The

12. Illuminated serlevha from a book of prayers transcribed by Hasan b.
Ahmed Karahisari in 1566/1567 and dedicated to Sultan Selim II (Istanbul,
Topkapi Sarayí Müzesi, E.H. 1077, fols. 2b—3a)

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