The Arts of the Book and Calligraphy

From the early medieval
period onwards Islamic rulers and magnates were increasingly interested in the
arts, and sought to own finely illuminated, illustrated and bound books written
by master scribes. Libraries were founded in contemporary centres of scholarship
like Merv, Baghdad and Cordoba, and bookshops that were also scriptoriums and
binderies proliferated.

No expense was spared for the paper, leather, gold and pigments used in their production, and the calligraphers, illuminators, gilders, miniature painters and binders were generously remunerated.

The Koran was compiled in book form in mid-7th
century. The oldest surviving Koran dates from the early 8th century and is
written on parchment. Korans are usually bound in a single volume, but
sometimes in thirty separate twenty-page sections known as cüz, or more rarely in two or four volumes. Manuscript Korans vary
widely in height from 2 cm to 100 cm. Rulers, statesmen and wealthy individuals
commissioned illuminated and finely bound Korans written by master scribes,
usually as gifts for mosques and mausoleums. There are a few rare examples of
illustrated Korans.

The tradition of illuminating Islamic manuscripts can be said to begin with Korans. The earliest Ottoman Korans have an illuminated opening spread called a serlevha. Here the Fatiha, the first surah of the Koran, and the first four verses of the Bakara, the second surah, are written on facing pages and surrounded by horizontal and vertical panels and borders filled with polychrome floral motifs.

Prayer books consisting of prayers for each
day of the week and selected surahs from the Koran—commonly the En’am, Kehf and
Yasin surahs—copied by eminent calligraphers and finely illuminated and bound,
were a longstanding tradition in the Islamic world. From the end of the 17th
century prayer books with illustrations and diagrams began to be produced in
Ottoman Turkey. This distinctive type became widespread in the 18th century,
reaching its zenith in the 19th century. Many of them are the prayer book known
as Delâ’ilü’l-Hayrat. 

While illuminated books were being produced at the
palace studio (nakkaşhane) in
Istanbul, the new capital of Sultan Mehmed II (r. 1444-46; 1451-81), and
artists from the East and the West thronged his palace, his son Şehzade Bayezid
created an equally lively cultural environment in the city of Amasya, where he
served as governor for 27 years. Calligraphers, including the great master Şeyh
Hamdullah, poets and scholars gathered here, and illuminated books were
produced under Bayezid’s patronage. After his accession to the throne as Sultan
Bayezid II he continued his patronage of the arts, and many illuminated books
produced in Istanbul
during his reign have survived to the present day. 

These books reflect tastes in illuminated books that developed at the Ottoman palace during the reign of Bayezid’s father Mehmed II. During Bayezid’s reign the number of books at Topkapı Palace rose to nearly eight thousand, each stamped with the sultan’s seal and recorded in a register.

The tuğra or imperial cipher was the official signature of the Ottoman
sultans. It was drawn by an official called nişancı.
As well as imperial documents, the tuğra
was used on coins and seals. The earliest examples of illuminated tuğras drawn on paper belong to Sultan
Bayezid II (r.
1481-1512). Here the spaces inside
the beyza (loops), sere or kürsü (monogram), tuğ
(shafts), zülfe (dependent sweeps
from the tuğ), and hançer (pincer-like projections) are
illuminated in different colours and motifs. From the 16th century the
illumination of the tuğra became
increasingly ornate.

The monogram text, known
as the sere or kürsü, is arranged to read from bottom to top. It begins with the
name of the sultan at the bottom with his patronymic above. These two names
form the basis of the tuğra
composition. Other words were included that varied slightly over time, but
these did not significantly affect the design. The word bin is inserted between the sultan’s name and that of his father,
with the tail of the letter nun
curving inwards to the left, while the tail of the letter nun in the sultan’s title curves outwards to the left. It is these
two tails that form the loops of the tuğra
and continue horizontally to the right, forming the projection known as hançer. The invocation, el-muzaffer daima  (‘[may he be] ever victorious’) is placed
above the patronymic, with the word daima
stretching towards the inside loop. 

Inscribing verses from the Koran, words spoken by the Prophet Muhammad, aphorisms and poetry on the interior and exterior walls of mosques, türbes (mausoleums), palaces and pavilions, on wooden doors, windows and pulpits is a very old tradition. Calligraphers wrote texts such as aphorisms, Koranic verses, hadiths, prayers and the names of God and the Prophet Muhammad and members of his family and disciples in large letters on panels that were hung on walls for everyone to read. These inscriptions were decorated with gilding and illumination. Sometimes pictures of Mecca or Medina, or the symbols of sufi orders were included in the composition.

Single page inscriptions
written by calligraphers and decorative compositions by artists and
illuminators were compiled into albums known as murakka, which have a special place in the Islamic arts of the
book. Illuminators, painters, calligraphers, binders and a variety of artists
specialising in cetvel, vassale, kat’ı, marbling, flecked gold decoration and halkâr, displayed their finest work.