the illustration of the shahnama 141 THE ILLUSTRATION OF THE SHAHNAMA AND THE ART OF THE BOOK IN OTTOMAN TURKEY Zeren Tanındı The evidence of the illustrated and illuminated manuscripts shows that Firdausi’s Shahnama became popular in the Ottoman court in the early 15th century. Firdausi’s text was translated into Turkish prose for the Ottoman sultan Murad II (r. 1421-44; 1446-51).1 A selected Persian text from Firdausi’s Shahnama was also copied, and illuminated for Sultan Mehmed II (r. 1444-46; 1451-81), in the first half of the 15th century.2 One of the historical sources mentioned that during the reign of Mehmed II, the court historian Şehdi composed an Ottoman history in the style of the Shahnama of Firdausi, but no work written by Şehdi is known today.3 Interest in Firdausi’s work increased in the Ottoman court, as well as in Persia during the Timurid period in the early 15th century. Later during the Aq Qoyunlu Turkman period, richly illustrated, illuminated and expertly bound or unillustrated but richly illuminated and expertly bound Shahnama manuscripts were executed mainly in Shiraz.4 We know that wandering artists from the Timurid Herat and Aq Qoyunlu Turkman periods of Tabriz and Shiraz migrated to Bursa–Edirne and Istanbul. Scientists and poets also came to Amasya and Istanbul from the Timurid and Aq Qoyunlu lands beginning in the early 15th century. As a result, the artists carried their styles from one place to another, and the cultural dialogue increased.5 1 The names of the Anatolian Saljuq rulers show that in the pre-Ottoman period there was a great interest in Firdausi’s epic in Anatolia, but there are no illustrated copies of it: however, an illuminated copy is known from that time, see: A.M. Piemontese, “Nuova Luce su Firdawsi uno ‘Shahname’ Dato 614 H./1217 a Firenze”, 1-38. 2 Gotha Landesbibliothek, Abb.72a. Orientalische Buchkunst in Gotha, 131-32. 3 Casim Avcı, “Şehdî”, 578. See also the chapter by Jan Schmidt in this volume [ed.]. 4 For illustrated 15th-century Shahnama copies in the Topkapı Saray Library (hereaf- ter TSMK), see below, n. 11. For other 15th-century copies, see Eleanor Sims, “The illus- trated manuscripts of Firdausi’s Shahname commissioned by princes of the house of Timur”, 67-68. I may add to Sims’ list Istanbul University Library’s nos. F. 1313, F. 1406, F. 1407. 5 Thomas W. Lentz and Glenn D. Lowry, Timur and the Princely Vision, 313-19; Zeren Tanındı , “An illuminated manuscript of the wandering scholar”, 647-55. 142 zeren tanındı The manuscripts of the Aq Qoyunlu Turkmans, together with the bookbinders and calligraphers of Isfahan who produce them, reached the Ottoman court because Ugurlu Mehmed (d. 1477), the governor of Isfahan and the son of Uzun Hasan (r. 1466-78), sought refuge in Sultan Mehmed II’s court in 1474.6 The manuscripts from this period, produced in Shiraz and Tabriz, are now housed in the Topkapı Saray Library (which contains 40 illustrated manuscripts executed during the Aq Qoyunlu Turkman period), the Süleymaniye Library and the Turkish and Islamic Art Museum in Istanbul.7 Some manuscripts bear the seals of the Aq Qoyunlu prince or ruler.8 An unillustrated copy of Firdausi’s Shahnama was completed by ‘Ali Bakir b. Sha‘ban b. Haidar al-Isfahani, dated 19 Rabi‘ II, 861/16 March 1457 at Isfahan.9 Folio 3r of this work contains a seal of the Aq Qoyunlu ruler Sultan Hasan b. Osman. The illuminated medallion bears a dedication to a certain Sultan Mehmed (fol. 2r). Another Shahnama copied by Husain al-mashur bi Giluya and dated Jumada I, 895/March-April 1490 contains expertly executed miniatures from the Aq Qoyunlu Turkman period, and it also bears a seal on folio 2r that probably belonged to one of the Turkman rulers.10 Of the total of 55 illustrated Shahnamas in the Topkapı,11 one was cop- ied during the Qara Qoyunlu Turkman period,12 and eight during the Aq Qoyunlu Turkman period in Shiraz (fig. 1, pl. 7).13 It has not been estab- lished that all of these manuscripts reached the Ottoman court by the end 6 Gülru Necipoğlu, Architecture, ceremonial, and power, 14-15; Julian Raby and Zeren Tanındı, Turkish bookbinding in the 15th century, 69-79. 7 Illustrated Turkman manuscripts in the İstanbul libraries and in the other collec- tions are listed in Filiz Çağman’s unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. See, “Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Hazine 762 No.lu Nizami Hamsesi’nin Minyatürleri”, 161-77. 8 Süleymaniye Library, no. Ayasofya 3133. 9 Süleymaniye Library, no. Ayasofya 3288. 10 İstanbul University Library, no. F. 1407. Calligrapher Husain Giluya copied one of the Topkapı’s illustrated Khamsas of Nizami, dated 893-95/1488-89; no. H. 771. The expertly executed miniatures are in Aq Qoyunlu Turkman style; Fehmi E. Karatay, Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesi Farsça Yazmalar Katalogu, no. 415. 11 Illustrated Shahnamas in the TSMK: 14th c.: H. 1479, H. 1511, H. 1510; 15th c.: H. 1496, H. 1515, H. 1489, H. 1506, H. 1491, R. 1542, H. 1478, H. 1507, H. 1508; 16th c.: H. 1499, H. 1509, H. 1480, H. 1504, H. 1494, H. 1485, H. 1481, H. 1656, H. 1482, H. 1516, R. 1543, H. 1495, H. 1484, H. 1500, H. 1477, H. 1497, H. 1475, R. 1548, H. 1476, H. 1501, H. 1488, R. 1546, R. 1549, H. 1493, R. 1544, H. 1505, H. 1490, H. 1512, H. 1492, H. 1502, H. 1503, H. 1513, H. 1514, H. 1487, H. 1486; 17th c.: H. 1498; 19th c.: A. 3065; Turkish translations: H. 1519, H. 1116, H. 1518, B. 284, H. 1520, H. 1522. 12 H. 1496. 13 H. 1515, H. 1489, H. 1506, H. 1491, R. 1542, H. 1478, H. 1507, H. 1508..