The Bryce Miniature Qur’an and Its Travels Across the Globe Mira Xenia Schwerda Synopsis: This talk focuses on a miniature Qur’an executed in golden ink and housed in a metal locket, now held in the collection of the Centre for Research Collections at the University of Edinburgh. This Qur’an may look like a manuscript, but…
Tag: Manuscripts
Jamiʿ al-Tawarikh: Provenance
Jamiʿ al-Tawarikh: Provenance Eleanor Lucy Deacon Synopsis: In this talk, Lucy Deacon explores the provenance of the substantial fragment of Rashid al-Din’s Jamiʿ al-Tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles), dating to the early 14th century CE and held by the University of Edinburgh’s Heritage Collections (Or Ms 20). She considers both the marks of custodial history within the manuscript…
Jamiʿ al-Tawarikh: Images of the Prophet
Jamiʿ al-Tawarikh: Images of the Prophet Christiane Gruber Synopsis: Rashid al-Din’s Jamiʿ al-Tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles) is considered the first universal history ever written. The Edinburgh University Library preserves an exceedingly rare and precious illustrated manuscript copy of this text made in 1307–14 CE and thus dating to the author’s time. Its cycle of paintings…
The Birth Scene of Iskandar (Alexander the Great)
The Birth Scene of Iskandar (Alexander the Great) Ayşin Yoltar-Yıldırım Synopsis: Museum collections often include works that are unidentified or inadequately studied. This presentation chases the source of an interesting birth scene depicted on a detached manuscript page, now held in the Brooklyn Museum, to an episode described in Nizami’s Iskandarnama (Book of Alexander). References: Milstein, Rachel.…
Jahangir’s Dream
Jahangir’s Dream Yael Rice Synopsis: Sometime around the early seventeenth century, the painter Abu’l Hasan depicted his patron, the Mughal emperor Jahangir (r. 1605–27), encountering his contemporary and rival, the Safavid ruler Shah ‘Abbas (r. 1588–1629), in a dream. This presentation explores the implications for interpreting this unusual painting as a dream image, and it…
The Gwalior Qur’an
The Gwalior Qur’an Marika Sardar Synopsis: Completed in 1399, the Gwalior Qur’an features illuminations, commentaries, and notations in addition to the Qur’anic text. These include a set of instructions to use the Qur’an as a divinatory text—the earliest known example of its kind. This rich and varied compendium of texts speak to the cultural and…
Contextualizing the Hünername (Book of Talents)
Contextualizing the Hünername (Book of Talents) Melis Taner Synopsis: This talk introduces the Hünername (Book of Talents), an illustrated manuscript prepared in the late 16th century at the Ottoman court. This work, composed in Ottoman Turkish by Seyyid Lokman, was conceived in four volumes, only two of which were completed. As a whole, the project deals with…
Ottoman Illustrated Histories
Ottoman Illustrated Histories Emine Fetvacı Synopsis: This talk introduces Ottoman painting through an examination of illustrated histories, which were the most popular works chosen for illustration during the sixteenth century. Through a close study of two manuscripts, we explore why these books were illustrated, what kinds of topics they focused on, and how they were…
Touching Mecca and Medina: The Dalā’il al-Khayrāt and Devotional Practices
Touching Mecca and Medina: The Dalā’il al-Khayrāt and Devotional Practices Sabiha Göloğlu Synopsis: This presentation explores a double-page painting of Mecca and Medina included in a late eighteenth-century Ottoman copy of the renowned prayer book entitled Dala’il al-Khayrat (Proofs of Good Deeds). This painting is important because it bears traces of devotional engagement with the images…
İbrahim Müteferrika and the First Printed Books of the Islamic World
İbrahim Müteferrika and the First Printed Books of the Islamic World Yasemin Gencer Synopsis: This presentation video offers an overview of the first Islamic incunabula printed at the Müteferrika press in the first half of the eighteenth century. A chronological survey of their visual attributes reveals the Ottoman publisher’s early experimentations with the new medium. …