LOT NOT PRESENTED LIVE. PRIOR REGISTRATION NECESSARY TO BID WITH A DEPOSIT OF € 30,000 PLEASE CONTACT US BY EMAIL : [email protected] Important Qur'an attributed to Sheykh Hamdullah Ink, polychrome pigments and gold on paper Turkey, early 16th century, Ottoman Empire, luxuriously bound in the 19th century (conservation work with some elements added to the decoration) H. 20.3 cm- W. 14.8 cm- D. 4.5 cm AR This splendid early 16th-century Qur'an was attributed to the famous calligrapher Sheykh Hamdullah (d. 1520) by a group of leading Ottoman calligraphers and calligraphy experts at the end of the 19th century. At the end of the manuscript is an illuminated cartouche containing a text dated Safar 1307 (1889), indicating that this group of experts examined the Qur'an and affirmed that it was the work of the master calligrapher Sheykh Hamdullah, known as 'Ibn al-Sheykh' in his heyday. Each member of this committee of calligraphers affixed his signature and personal seal under the illuminated cartouche to confirm this opinion. These famous calligraphers were familiar with Hamdullah's style and hand, especially Yahya Hilmi Efendi and Hasan Rıza Efendi, the greatest naskh specialists of their time. The signatures and seals that appear on this cartouche are, from right to left, as follows: 1 Seyyid Ahmed 'Arif. Known as Bakkal (the "grocer"). Above his signature and the imprint of his seal, the word "Filibevi" has been inscribed. Born in 1286/1830 in Filibe (Plovdiv), also known as Hacı Arif Efendi, he graduated as a calligrapher from Hafız İsmail Efendi and went to Istanbul where he opened a grocery shop. In Istanbul, he met the famous calligrapher Şevki Efendi who, recognising his talent, agreed to take him on as a pupil. After winning a competition to become a calligraphy teacher at the Nuruosmaniye mosque, he closed his grocery shop. He died in 1327/1909 (Rado, p. 23). 2 Sami Efendi. Born in Istanbul in 1253/1838, he was a master of several styles of writing and recognised as one of the leading calligraphers of his time. He was particularly famous for his compositions in the thuluth style known as celi. He was employed for a time as secretary to the Imperial Council and taught at the royal palace. His compositions adorn many of Istanbul's mosques and public structures, including the Cihangir and Altunizade mosques, the fountain at the Yeni mosque, the Nallı mosque, and the Kapali Çarşi gate. Many famous calligraphers, including Riza Efendi (see below), were among his pupils. He was paralysed in his last years and died in 1330/1912 (Rado, pp. 240-241; Derman, pp. 142-144). 3 Yahya Hilmi Efendi. Born in Istanbul in 1249/1833, he studied with Ahmet Hazım, Mehmed Haşim Efendi and Halil Zühdi Efendi and became one of the greatest naskh calligraphers of his time. He served in the office of the Ministry of War, rising through the ranks to become its director. When he affixed his seal to this Qur'an, he signed as mümeyyiz (inspector) of the third division of the Ministry of War (Rado, pp. 233-234; Derman, p. 138). 4 Seyyid Ahmed Hilmi. Originally from Crete, he moved to Istanbul with his family at a very young age and studied with the famous calligraphers şefik Bey and Mustafa İzzet Efendi. Here, he signed his seal imprint as a member of the Council of Orphans and Widows. 5 Hasan Rıza Efendi. Born in Üsküdar, Hasan Rıza Efendi was a pupil of Yahya Hilmi and, like his master before him, became one of the most famous naskh calligraphers of the late Ottoman period. After a stay in Tirnova, where his father was postmaster, he returned to Istanbul, where he studied with the great masters of the time, such as Şefik Bey, Mustafa Izzet Efendi and Sami Efendi. He was an imam and then professor of calligraphy at the Imperial College of Music (Rado, pp. 249-251; Derman, p. 156). It is with the latter title that he has signed his seal imprint here. 6 Abdullah Muhsinzade. He was the grandson of the statesman Damad Mahmud Pasha and the son of Mehmed Bey, the director of the imperial stables. He was born in Kuruçeşme in 1832. He was employed in various ministries and replaced the famous calligrapher Şevki Efendi as professor of calligraphy at the military scribe training school in 1877. Sultan Abüldhamid II then conferred on him the title of reisü'l-hattatin (chief calligrapher), and it is with this title that he has affixed his seal here. He studied first with Hafız Mehmed Efendi, then with Mustafa Izzet Efendi, who immediately recognised his pupil's talent. He died in 1894 of a stroke while cultivating his garden in Kuruçeşme (Rado pp. 230-231; Derman, p. 128). The most famous Ottoman calligrapher of any era, Sheykh Hamdullah, is regarded as the founder of a distinctive Ottoman style of calligraphy, particularly where the naskh is concerned. He was born in Amasya in the second quarter of the 15th century to a Sheykh father, Suhrawardi of Bukhara, which is why he often signed his works "Ibn al-Sheikh" or "son of the Sheykh". In Amasya, he studied with Khayr al-Din Mar'ashi, a follower of the style of the great calligrapher Yaqut al-Musta'simi. Hamdullah met the Ottoman prince Bayezid when the latter was governor of Amasya. After the prince ascended the throne as Bayezid II in 1481, the calligrapher accompanied him to Istanbul, where he was attached to the sultan's court. In Istanbul, he studied the manuscripts of previous masters, in particular those of Yaqut, and developed his own style. It is said that the Sultan thought so highly of him that he held his inkwell and placed a cushion behind his back. Although he mastered the six canonical scriptures, it was for his mastery of the naskh that he was particularly renowned. The esteem in which he was held is reflected in the epithet by which he is frequently referred to - qiblat al-kuttab, the 'pillar of the calligrapher'. This expression can also be understood in the sense of someone who gives direction, like a lighthouse (Derman, pp. 46-48). It is often said that Hamdullah wrote 47 copies of the Koran (Derman, p. 46). Six Korans bearing the signature of Sheykh Hamdullah were produced between 1492 and 1508. Three copies are in the Topkapı Saray (YY913, A 5, EH 71, EH 72), one in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts (T.402) and one in the Istanbul University Library (A.6662). A Qur'an attributed to him is in the collection of the Aga Khan (Falk, no. 105). Copies of the Qur'an attributed to him have also occasionally appeared on the art market. He died at the end of 926 A.H. (1520). Such was his aura that novice calligraphers used to bury their calabres for a week in the ground near his tomb, hoping to gain a little of his intellectual strength, as various authors such as Derman and Schimmel report. The style of elegant and proportionate calligraphy in this Qur'an is entirely consistent with Hamdullah's style, and clearly the work of a master of the highest order. The style associated with Hamdullah is characterised by the clarity of the letterforms as well as by a distinct rhythm created by the alternation of density and space, so that, while the middle sections of words are sometimes unexpectedly stretched (as in the word yuqīmūna in f. 3a), words beginning and ending with certain letters often intersect (see, for example, how the final letter T is placed within the word), how the final letter Tā of the word al-sirāT almost joins the alif of the following word al-mustaqīm on f. 3a). Although the illumination is not as brilliant or elaborate as that of the royal Qur'ans copied by Hamdullah (see for example TKS EH 71, illustrated in Roxburgh, cat. No. 253; TIEM 402, published in Unustasi, cat.no. 98) and was clearly redecorated in places in the nineteenth century, it is nevertheless quite typical of early sixteenth-century luxury Qur'ans. The double opening page of the illumination, dominated by gold of different colours and textures, dark blue and black, composed of rosettes placed in the centre of groups of four palmettes, is very similar, though more subtly coloured, to that found on a Qur'an in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts (TIEM 397, illustrated in Unustasi, pp. 389-389). The illuminated opening bifolio with rows of split palmettes with black filling and sura titles in white riqa' is also similar to those found on TIEM 397 (ibid., pp. 390-391) and on other Qur'ans of the period, including two other Qur'ans in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art (TIEM 97, dated 913/1507-8, illustrated in ibid., pp. 374-375 and TIEM 104, illustrated in ibid., pp. 396-397). The manuscript ends with a bifolio decorated with two finely illuminated shamsa. This Qur'an is luxuriously bound in leather with deeply embossed and gilded decoration. The central decoration is composed of mandorles on a background of foliage motifs, and the margins of friezes of tchi clouds in relief alternating with palmettes and florets. The back covers and endpapers are decorated with large mandorles on a pink background and gilded palmettes, with silver rosettes on a green background. The sertab, the part covering the edge, features a calligraphic cartouche in the Qur'an (56:79) "which only the purified touch". The mikleb (flap) is embellished with a stamped decoration following on from the plates. It is accompanied by a cover decorated with gilded palmettes, the edges of which repeat the fine plant decoration applied in gold to the edges of the manuscript pages. BIBLIOGRAPHY M. Uğur Derman, Letters in Gold: Ottoman Calligraphy from the Sakıp Sabancı Collection, Istanbul, New York, 1998. M. Uğur Derman, Ottoman Calligraphy, collection of the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Sabancı University, Istanbul, New York, 1998. T. Falk, ed, Trésors de l'Islam, Geneva, 1985, no. 105. M. Farhad & S. Rettig, The Art of the Qur'an, treasures from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 2016. F. E. Karatay, Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi Arapça Yazmalar Kataloğu, I. Kur'an, Kur'an ilimleri, Tefsirler, Istanbul, 1962. Şevket Rado, Türk Hattatları, Istanbul, 1984. David J. Roxburgh, Turks: A Journey of A Thousand Years, 600-1600, London, 2005. Schimmel Annemarie, Calligraphy and Islamic Culture, New York University Press, 1984. Müjde Unustasi (ed), 1400. yilinda Kur'an-i Kerim. Türk ve islam Eserleri Müzesi Kur'an-i Kerim Koleksiyonu, Istanbul, 2010. We would like to thank Will Kwiatkowski for his help in identifying and describing these Ottoman manuscripts.