Page 57 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

arts, then it is Kara Memi, whose impact is still visible today. not limited to examples with stamped and gilded covers, fre-
The binding of Sayrafi's Koran made by Mehmed Çelebi, quently with filigree doublures, but also included lacquered
who was listed as Mehmed b. Ahmed in the payroll registers, and embroidered examples as well as those executed in pre-
is unfortunately lost, the manuscript having been rebound in cious materials, such as in jade and gold, encrusted with
recent times. This would have been the only identifiable work gems. The decorative theme identified with bookbindings of
of the master, who entered the society of the bookbinders be- the age is the saz scroll with a profusion of hatayi blossoms
fore 1526 and became its chief between 1545 and 1566. As and buds accompanied by feathery .leaves, at times enhanced
the head of the mücellidan, Mehmed must have produced by rumis and cloud bands. This style, which appeared on
most of the bindings found on imperial manuscripts in addi- bookbindings produced around 1550, incorporated the earlier
tion to those on the refurbished volumes. 34 Ottoman traditions as well as those identified with the late-
It was during the reign of Suleyman that the classical Otto- fifteenth-century school of Herat.
man type of bookbinding evolved. Ottoman bindings were The evolution of the classical style of Ottoman bookbinding

15. Stamped and gilded leather binding from a Tefsir transcribed in 1519
(Istanbul, Topkapi Sarayi Miizesi, A. 21)

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