Page 202 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

92 The Siileymanname of Firdevsi Burusevi (Uzun mace, bottle, and napkin) and female attendants.
Firdevsi, b. 1453), dedicated to Bayazid n (r. The most striking figures in this scene are the
CEREMONIAL KAFTAN 1481-1512), hence datable before 1512, even demons, thirty-six in all, many of them part
though it is incomplete, is a masterpiece of early animal, which stand on the next three registers,
c. 1500 Ottoman painting. It is executed in naskhi on 332 evidently the decan demons of the Egyptian
Turkish, Ottoman folios of mottled cream polished paper. Bayazid's Zodiac, which made their way into medieval
velvet with gold brocading and boucle, with satin name appears in gold, above and below, on the Western astrology.
and twill lining folios with decorated borders containing the The total absence of other illustrations in the
length 142 (56); width across shoulders 86 (34);
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sleeves 106 (4i /4J preface (fols. 2b~3a). Firdevsi Burusevi himself manuscript makes it difficult to interpret the
references: Barista 1981, no.3; Istanbul 1983, 3:E26 alleges that he drew upon Suleymannames writ- double frontispiece. So crammed with detail is it
ten in Syriac by Lukman al-Hakim and translated that it may have been intended as a precis of the
Topkapi Sarayi Miizesi, Istanbul into Persian by Aflatun (both either apocryphal or illustrations that were planned for the remainder
pseudographic), as well as upon a certain unnamed of the manuscript. The identifiable elements,
This kaftan belonged to §ehzade Korkud (1473- work that had come his way at Niksar, to which however, can be traced only to the Solomon ro-
1513), son of Bayazid n (r. 1481-1512). In its com- his attention was drawn by the shaykh of the mance ("Sulayman b. Da'ud," Encyclopaedia of
bination of magnificence and sobriety, it is an tekke of Melik Gazi Dani§mend there. The text of Islam), not to the Shdhndme or the other works
outstanding example of Ottoman tailoring. The his Siileymanname is in twenty books, divided from which Firdevsi Burusevi's poem draws.
Venetian velvet has a ferronnerie-type pattern of into a hundred scenes or fits (majlis). The author Moreover, it is difficult to explain why certain
pointed oval medallions with tendrils and small, states that it was originally to consist of 366 books figures appear on one page rather than the other.
stylized thistles. The wide, flaring collar is charac- and 1,830 fits — no such complete version is For example, why should it be Bilqis rather than
teristic of Ottoman fashion of the period. The known, perhaps fortunately. The text shows, not Solomon who has the thirty-six decan-demons
arms are, as is usual, ornamental: the slits for the surprisingly, considerable eclecticism — Koranic parading for her in their three rows ? And if the
arms at the shoulders show no signs of wear, as kisas material; hadith and sayings of the Imams; three tiers of seated turbaned figures and crowned
the garment was very probably worn over the Biblical material from Genesis, Kings, and pos- figures below Solomon are a sign of Solomon as
shoulders with the arms falling to the sides. sibly the Apocrypha, drawn directly or via the King of Kings, the lowest registers on this page
Although the loops for fastening the pockets still Midrash scholia; the Alexander Romance; and suggest no precise interpretation at all. It may be
remain, the corresponding buttons have been lost. Persian epic, that is, the heroes of Firdawsi's that the painter's principal aim was simply to fill
Inside, down the back are three applique panels: Shdhndme from Gayumarth to Rustam. The nar- the facing pages in a roughly symmetrical way.
two of palmettes in bold filigree, showing the blue rative begins with the Old Testament, with the The most intriguing figures in the frontispiece
satin lining beneath and hemmed in yellow silk; Creation sequence and daimonomachy, but with are, of course, the jinns and demons. The principal
and a circle with an arabesque and split-palmette Gayumarth introduced as a son of Adam. There Muslim source for the natural history of jinns is
c
interlacing of deep pink on a yellow ground. follows, as though anticipating Wagner's operatic the Aja'ib al-Makhluqdt of Zakariyya Qazvmi,
J.M.R. epic, a series of wars between prophets or the earliest known copy of which, dated 1279-
patriarchs and demons for possession of Solo- 1280 (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich, Cod.
mon's ring, which allegedly preceded him by ar. 464), depicts the various sorts oljinn. Some of
several generations. Solomon himself appears on the fourteenth-century manuscripts contain jinn
93 not in exhibition the scene relatively late (his birth is recounted on features that are western European in origin (Bib-
fols. I58b-i59a): thereafter his exploits are diffi- liotheque Nationale, Paris, supp. pers. 332, 1388),
cult to connect with the Old Testament narrative. though the demon pictures in general differ mark-
The splendid double frontispiece, the two sheets edly from those in the small number of illustrated
of which have been unbound from the manuscript magical manuscripts recorded, notably the Seljuk
94 and mounted separately, contains the only illus- Turkish Kitdb Daqd'iq al-Haqd'iq of Nasir al-Din
trations actually executed. On folio ib Siileyman Siwasi (Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, pers. 174,
SOLOMON AND THE (Solomon) is shown as an elderly man, seated dated 1271). The demons of Firdevsi Burusevi's
QUEEN OF SHEBA cross-legged in a domed pavilion with cylindrical Siileymanname are, however, not in the Ajd'ib
c
side-towers and pointed turrets. To either side al-Makhluqdt tradition at all. The demon with its
from Sharaf al-Din Musa, known as Firdevsi is a gathering of fowls, while behind the throne is head beneath its shoulders, for example, is the
Burusevi, Siileymanname (The Solomon Romance) a crowd of angels or peris, crowned, with wings akephalos daimon of the Testamentum Salomonis
before 1512 springing from their shoulders. The moulding (though going back, of course, as far as Herodo-
Turkish, Ottoman between the two tiers of the throne is irregularly tus; compare Pauly-Wissowa xxn c. 2346); while
332 folios, mottled cream polished paper, naskhi, decorated with repeating letter-forms possibly the enormous ears of other demons depend ulti-
autograph, mostly 39 lines sometimes in 5 columns,
some pages blank, preface (zb—ja) with decorated derived from Hebrew characters. Below Siileyman mately on Indian demonology, where the Karna-
borders bears Bayazid ifs name in gold naskhi above are six registers, the first three of which contain pravarana (literally, "people who cover themselves
and below human figures. The turbaned figures in the first with their ears") of the Mahabharata, who were
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2
44.3 X Jl (l7 /8 X 12 /4) of these evidently represent Solomon's viziers. taken to typify the barbarian tribes of the epic
references: Hammer-Purgstall 1836-1838, 1:276; The next two registers contain supernatural fig- period in India, are widely represented in medieval
McCown 1922; Goldschmidt 1923-1924, 217; ures, including animal-headed spirits (jinns), manuscripts of such texts as the Speculum Hist-
Macler 1928; Neuss 1931; Deissmann 1933, no. 17; demons, and angels, while the last register con- oriale of Vincent de Beauvais or the Alexander
Wittkower 1942, 159-197; Minorsky 1958, 9-10; tains what appear to be planetary figures, as well' Romance. The musculature of the demons'
Kraus 1967; Miner 1967; Flemming 1968, 36-40, as exotic animals and other details. stomachs, moreover, recalls the concentric ovals
no. 52; Narkiss 1971; James 1981, no. 31; Bologna Folio 2a shows the court of the Queen of Sheba of Byzantine or Romanesque drapery and limbs.
1988
(known as Bilqis) flanked by angels holding the Dog-headed demons, cynocephaloi, are also
The Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin attributes of emirs (including cup, axe, sword, conspicuous: these spread from a Greek tradition

EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD 2O1