Prayer Book

The calligrapher known as Hüsameddin Hüseyin Şah trained in the city of Amasya under Şeyh Hamdullah, calligraphy teacher to Sultan Bayezid II (r. 1481-1512). He accompanied his teacher to Istanbul when Bayezid acceded to the throne, and between 1492-1503 held clerical posts in the Council of State and the Imperial Treasury. In the colophon of this manuscript in the Sakıp Sabancı Museum collection, Hüseyin Şah describes himself as the slave of Şeyh Hamdullah, suggesting that it was written before the death of his teacher, whose style of writing the aklâm-ı sitte (six hands’: Sülüs, nesih, muhakkak, reyhani, tevki and rıka) he followed. The manuscript consists of prayers to be read on the seven days of the week. In 965/1557 Hüseyin Şah made a copy of the En’am surah with the opening page illuminated in the style of the renowned illuminator Kara Memi. Many famous calligraphers produced books of weekly prayers, such as that by Abdullah Herevî of Herat. A magnificently illuminated copy written by the calligrapher Hasan b. Ahmed Karahisarî in 974/1566 was presented to Sultan Selim II (r. 1517-20).

This prayer book in the Sakıp Sabancı Museum collection has light chestnut coloured leather binding with flap. The outer cover is decorated with an ovoid medallion with pendants, filled with gold rumi scrollwork. The doublures and endpapers are finely marbled in the style known as hatip. The binding, illumination and gilding are all executed with superb craftsmanship, and evidently date from the 19th century. On f. 1v are two seal impressions, one belonging to Tahsin Hasan and the other to his son Osman b. Tahsin Hasan. The same seals are found in other manuscripts in the Sakıp Sabancı Museum collection. An En’am (cat. no. 44) contains both stamps, while a Divan dated 1306/1888-89 (SSM 190-0017) contains that belonging to Tahsin Hasan.