AN ILLUMINATED COLLECTION OF PRAYERS, COPIED BY IBRAHIM SUKUTI AND OSMAN B. DAMAD AL-'AFIF, TURKEY, OTTOMAN, DATED 1193 AH/1779-80 AD AND 1232 AH/1816-17 AD
Auction Closed
October 23, 11:03 AM GMT
Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
AN ILLUMINATED COLLECTION OF PRAYERS, COPIED BY IBRAHIM SUKUTI AND OSMAN B. DAMAD AL-'AFIF, TURKEY, OTTOMAN, DATED 1193 AH/1779-80 AD AND 1232 AH/1816-17 AD
Arabic manuscript on paper, 122 leaves plus 2 fly-leaves, 9 lines to the page, written in naskh in black ink, ruled in gold, verses separated by polychrome and gold rosettes, titles and surah headings in white riqa’ within gold and polychrome cartouches, f.1b with a painting of a sikke, a quilted turban and skullcap on a wooden stand, 2 illuminated headings, 2 illuminated hilyas, in light brown gilt and stamped binding, with flap and case
text panel: 8.1 by 5.2cm.
leaf: 12.4 by 8.6cm.
N. Safwat, A Collector’s Eye. Islamic calligraphy in Qur’ans and other manuscripts, London 2010, no.69, pp.260-5.
This collection of prayers was written by two master calligraphers of the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century. The manuscript is misbound but bears two colophons which allow us to link the elegant naskh to the master Osman and his student Ibrahim.
One colophon is signed by ‘Osman ibn Osman b. Osman’. Nabil Safwat (Safwat 2010, p.260) identifies the scribe as Osman Wali, a contemporary of the great master Mahmud Celaleddin (d.1829) and one of the masters of the pen in Ottoman Turkey. He studied calligraphy with Ibrahim 'Afif and was close to his teacher, even marrying his daughter and signing his colophon as ‘damad al-'Afif’ (son-in-law of 'Afif).
The other scribe is Ibrahim Sukuti, a student of Osman Wali. He was a guard at the Esma Sultan Sarayi and along with manuscripts he was also commissioned to produce calligraphy for buildings. A copy of a Dala’il al-khayrat dated 1237 AH/1821 AD, is now in the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha (published in Safwat 2000, p.214-5). He was responsible for a thuluth inscription over the public fountain of Vali Sultan in Karagumruk, Istanbul, dated 1809.