Page 67 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

Literary Manuscripts

The majority of the illustrated manuscripts produced during
the reign of Süleyman are devoted to literary subjects. These
volumes—bound, transcribed, illuminated, and/or illustrated
by the court artists—reveal diversified styles and include cop-
ies of both classical and Turkish texts and contemporary
works. The majority are collections of poetry, which was par-
ticularly favored in the court and practiced by the sultan,
members of his family, and high officials. The sultan's per-
sonal involvement with this art form no doubt stimulated the
energetic production of literary manuscripts.
Interest in illustrated literary works had already been ob-
served during the reign of Mehmed II, beginning in Edirne in
the 1450s. Two of the earliest manuscripts, the Dilsizname
(Book of the mute) of Badi ed-Din et-Tebrizi (dated 14557
47
1456) 46 and the Kulliyat-i Katibi (c. 1460-1480), show the 24. Folio from the
Muhibbi written
emergence of a local school of painting that incorporated Divan-i
by Sultan Süleyman,
Ottoman figure types with the stylistic features found in the mid-sixteenth century
Akkoyunlu manuscripts made in Shiraz. The same tradition (Istanbul, Topkapi
continued in Istanbul under the patronage of Bayezid II, pro- Sarayí Müzesi, H.
1132, fol. 94a)
ducing between 1490 and 1510 over a dozen volumes that
included the Kelile ve Dimm, Hamse-i Dihlevi, and several cop-
ies of the Hüsrev ve §irin composed by both Hatifi and Ceyhi,
and the iskendername (Book of iskender, or Alexander the
Great) of Uzun Firdevsi and Ahmedi. 48
A number of paintings in these volumes incorporate un- styles. Some of the manuscripts produced in Istanbul are in-
usual architectural settings and employ panoramic vistas, sug- distinguishable from those made in Herat and Tabriz, with
gesting that the artists were not only inspired by the buildings the same tradition followed in all three courts. The artists in
in the capital but also by European traditions of representa- the nakka^hane also had at their disposal a vast repertoire of
tion. These features are particularly noticeable in the 1498 fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century manuscripts produced
Hamse-i Dihlevi 49 and the 1499 copy of Hatifi's Timurname in Herat, Tabriz, Baghdad, and Cairo that had been incorpo-
(Book ofTimur). 50 rated into the palace libraries.
The development of the local style of painting was overshad- During the political turbulence caused by the rise of the Sa-
owed by the influx of artists from Herat and Tabriz, who ar- favids, several rulers had sought the protection of the Otto-
rived in the nakka§hane in 1514 as a result of the eastern mans and came to Istanbul with their retinues and treasures,
campaigns of Selim I and were immediately put to work. The which included artists and valuable manuscripts. One of them
paintings in two manuscripts produced during the reign of was the last Akkoyunlu sultan, Alvand, who fled to the Otto-
Selim I are representative of the emergence of a new tradition man court when his capital, Tabriz, fell to the Safavids in
and reflect the style of Timurid Herat: the Mantik et-Tayr 1501. Another was the last Timurid sultan, Bedi uz-Zaman,
(Language of the birds) of Attar 51 and the Yusufve Züleyha of who had escaped to Tabriz when his capital, Herat, was over-
Hamdi, 52 both dated 1515. The latter, the earliest illustrated run by the Uzbeks in 1507, but was held captive by the Sa-
copy of Hamdi's work, contains an interesting colophon that favids when they conquered that city in 1510. Freed by Selim
states that one person was responsible for transcribing, illus- I and invited to join the Istanbul court, Bedi uz-Zaman ar-
trating, collating, and binding the manuscript; although rived in 1514 with his artists and treasury. 53
proud of his many talents, the artist has not given his name. Other artists and libraries were taken as booty and brought
The illustrations of the manuscripts dated between the to Istanbul during Selim I's campaigns in Iran, Syria, and
1520s and 1540s are highly eclectic, their styles as varied as Egypt. Although his glorious victories led to exaggerated fig-
the backgrounds of the men employed in the nakka§hane. ures, there is no doubt that a substantial group of new paint-
Some were made by artists trained in the Timurid and Akko- ers joined the nakka^hane and important works came to the
yunlu traditions of Herat and Tabriz; others were painted by palace libraries as a result of his campaigns. The earliest illus-
those who followed the school of Istanbul; and a number trated version of the Turkish translation of Firdausi's §ahname
show the combined efforts of painters practicing different (Book of kings), made in 1511 in Cairo for the last Mamluk

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