Page 56 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

14. Two folios from a Koran transcribed by Abdullah Sayrafi in 1344/1345
and illuminated by Kara Mcmi in 1554/1555 (Istanbul, Topkapi Sarayi
Müzesi, E.H. 49, fols. 329b-330a)

ten in a larger script (rikaa) must have been added by Hasan, and 1555/1556. Here he is listed as having illuminated a
the student and adopted son of Ahmed Karahisari (see 12), Koran for the Süleymaniye Mosque, receiving the highest
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who was also responsible for the chapter headings. The illu- wage. The artist was also discussed in Mustafa Ali's Mena-
minations, made by Kara Memi, called Kara Mehmed Çelebi kib-i Hünerveran (Legends of the talented), a biography of the
in the notation, harmonize with Hasan's calligraphy and en- artists. Mustafa Ali called him a "muzehhib/' the greatest
rich the folios. student of §ahkulu, and the master of Süleyman's nakka§-
Kara Memi, whose name is recorded in one other manu- hane. With the exception of Mustafa Ali's brief account and
script, the Divan-i Muhibbi dated February/March 1566 (see the listings in the documents, not much is known about his
26), is also listed in the payroll registers. In 1545 he was life. We do not know where he came from and when he
identified as Mehmed-i Siyah, Memi being a shortened ver- started his apprenticeship with §ahkulu. Kara Memi is,
sion of Mehmed and Siyah (black) another way of defining nevertheless, among the very few artists of the nakkachane
Kara (dark); two apprentices, Mustafa b. Yusuf and Hamza of whose style can be identified by existing works.
Austria, were named also. In 1557—1558 he was called nak- Analysis of his signed and dated works indicates that Kara
ka§ba§i and had an apprentice by the name of Nebi. Since his Memi was indeed the master of Süleyman's nakka§hane. His
name does not appear in the register drawn between July naturalistic themes appear in manuscripts produced between
and October 1566, the artist's last work may have been the the 1540s and 1560s, and no doubt his apprentices and stu-
Divan-i Muhibbi. He appears as Kara Mehmed in a document dents continued the tradition. If one artist can be credited
related to the palace expenses accrued between 1552/1553 with the most significant contribution to Ottoman decorative

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