Ottoman miniature painting
The Ottoman miniature painting is part of a courtly dominated art form of the Islamic world that its highlights in the great empires of the Timurid , Ottoman , Safavid and Mughal found. Miniature paintings were used to illustrate and decorate luxurious manuscripts intended for the ruler or other high-ranking personalities .
Miniature painting in the Ottoman canon of the book arts
Miniature painting was one of the arts that were counted among the "arts of the book". It was this
- cilt - bookbinding
- ebru - paper marbling
- hat - highly aesthetic calligraphy of the Arabic script
- nakş - painting and ornamentation
- tezhip - primer
The Ottomans adapted the tradition of ruling scriptories , in which luxurious books were produced, from various past and contemporary Islamic dynasties with which they came into contact throughout their history. In particular, the Persian court culture , and thus also Persian miniature painting , served as models for the court culture of the Ottomans.
But despite this strong Persian influence, the miniature was able to develop into a highly independent art form under the Ottomans. Through contacts with artists from Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean , a fusion of Eastern and Western traditions was created against the background of the influence of Persian and Turkmen . The Ottoman miniatures differed particularly in their historical realism. While the Persian tradition cultivated the depiction of legendary rulers and heroes, mythical and wonderful creatures, paradisiacal gardens and courtly diversions, the Ottomans preferred a more documentary style of representation of their empire history.
The Ottoman scriptorium - the nakkaşhane
The production of luxurious manuscripts took place primarily in the ruling scriptorium, the nakkaşhane . This writing workshop was founded after the conquest of Istanbul by Mehmed II outside the walls of the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. Even before the conquest of Istanbul, Mehmed II ran a scriptorium at his former court in Edirne , which in terms of size and furnishings was not comparable to that in Istanbul. Here future masters were introduced to the arts of the book in an elaborate teaching system. The masters of nakş were called nakkaş . Even if this term is often used as a painter or miniaturist , it describes someone who created images or design elements for a variety of purposes. The miniature paintings produced by the nakkaş were, with a few exceptions, almost exclusively made with protein-bound pigment colors on paper. Not all master painters at the Ottoman court were trained on site. Some of the most influential masters came from the courts of the Timurids in Herat or Samarqand , the Turkmen in Shiraz or Baghdad , or that of the Safavids in Tabriz . These and other master miniaturists from the Balkans, Hungary, Central Asia and the Arab world trained generations of miniature painters at the nakkaşhane and thus contributed to the development of an independent synthesis of Eastern and Western styles, techniques and subjects in the late 16th century.
The production process
Due to outdated accounts, explanatory texts and even self-referential miniatures, the creation and production process in the nakkaşhane is well documented. After placing an order, the author of a manuscript, with the support of the scriptorium, formed a project-related committee of leading artists. In close coordination with the respective Obernakkaş , the design framework for the plant was determined. He made the specifications, which were carried out by a number of under him and mostly highly specialized artists. There were specialists who were only responsible for landscape and vegetation, others for clothing, faces, animals or architectural details. This division of labor approach sometimes makes it difficult to ascribe the authorship of Ottoman miniatures to a single artist. Even so, the most important miniaturists are well known. Their respective styles are so independent, and the collaborations were mostly of such a firm and lasting nature that despite many executing hands, a leading artistic signature is recognizable.
Beginnings of specifically Ottoman miniature art under Mehmed II.
The development of the miniature into an independent Ottoman art form began under Mehmed II. Due to his great interest in European art, and especially in European medals and portraits of rulers, he had a large number of European artists come to his court, who from now on engaged in a fruitful exchange with his court artists. The Venetians Costanzo da Ferrara and Gentile Bellini had a great influence on contemporary Ottoman artists with their depictions of the sultan. In particular, the miniaturist Nakkaş Sinan Bey and his student Ahmed Şiblizade made use of new European techniques such as: B. Shades and perspectives and, apart from the technical, also introduced new topics into miniature painting. Therefore, the facial representations of Ottoman miniatures from the end of this period typically have a higher individuality and expressiveness than comparable Persian works.
The miniatures of the master, who simply called himself Siyah Kalem ("Black Feather"), are in many ways an exception in Turkish-Ottoman miniature art. The miniatures, the "Fatih album" called the scrapbook Mehmed II from the library of the Topkapı Palace , with their East Asian, almost Chinese-style style and a theme characterized by demons and shamans, represent a clear reference to the Inner Asian Turkic peoples. It is therefore assumed that this master came from the steppe regions of Inner Asia. There is no further information on his person and biography. Many works that were signed Siyah Kalem, however, should not be ascribed to him.
Consolidation in the 15th and 16th centuries
Under the successors of Mehmed II, Bayezid II , Selim I , and Suleyman I , his artistic legacy was further expanded and assimilated. All three rulers commissioned illustrated historiographies of the Ottomans, which solidified the roles of painting and miniature as a means of historiography and representation. With the conquest of Tabriz by Selim I in 1514, many more Persian painters and artists came to Istanbul , who would shape the Ottoman miniature for decades. Her two-dimensional style, imported from Tabriz, with very decorative, rich textures and extremely detailed surface structures, was a fruitful synthesis with the three-dimensional representation taken from European sources. The development of the Ottoman Empire into a maritime power had another major influence on miniature painting. From the increased contact with maps, atlases and representations of foreign cities and stretches of coast, a tradition of luxuriously presented atlases and geographically oriented historical works developed, which were rich in lavish miniatures and served more representative than practical purposes. The two most important works with a cartographic background include the Kitab-ı bahriye (Book of Seafaring) commissioned by Piri Reis and the Beyan-ı menazi-i sefer-i Irakeyn-i Sultan Suleyman han (description of the stations of the Iraq campaign Sultan Suleyman) of Matrakçı Nasuh .
The Kitab-ı bahriye was produced in two versions in 1521 and 1526. It was a nautical atlas which, as a presentation copy for Süleyman I, contained images of Mediterranean cities and coastlines in the style of European travel gazettes. This work became one of the most widely reproduced books in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Over 30 luxury editions were created in the course of the 16th and 17th centuries. Matrakçı Nasuh continued the idea of using topographical images in Beyan-i menazil from 1537, another commissioned work for Süleyman. It is dedicated to the campaign of Suleyman of 1534/35, with which he was able to expand the Ottoman domain to Mesopotamia. The miniatures were created on the basis of eyewitness reports and contained topographical illustrations of the stations of the campaign along the route to the now new outer border of the empire. They are strongly influenced by urban views that were contained in contemporary European atlases and travel gazettes, but their execution is typically Ottoman. On behalf of Süleyman and his vizier Rüştem Paşa , Matrakçı Nasuh produced three more magnificent volumes, which depicted further campaigns of Bayezid II , Selim I and Süleyman in a similarly opulent manner. Due to the great success of these works, his style was copied until the late 16th century.
In the area of portrayal, a stylistic change took place among Ottoman artists of this time, even apart from the ruling scriptorium. The naval officer Haydar Reis, who painted under the pseudonym Nigari, found a highly acclaimed synthesis of western and Islamic miniature painting. He used European shading techniques and always depicted his figures against dark backgrounds. Nigari immortalized not only the Ottomans in his portraits, but also European rulers such as B. the knight king Franz I of France or Charles V , the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire . His works are not book illuminations, but rather applied to single sheets in a rather untypical way for the time.
The zenith of Ottoman miniature art
The reigns of Suleyman I , Selim II and Murad III. are considered the pinnacle of Ottoman miniature. The increasing wealth and political stability as a result of the campaigns of conquest inspired many other art forms in addition to the miniature. During this period, the main influences of the late 15th and early 16th centuries - the encounter with European portraits, the increasing importance of historiographic painting, the influence of nautical cartography and the ongoing influence of Persian art heritage - merged into a specifically Ottoman miniature art.
The introduction of the position of an official şehnâmeci , the court historian, was very significant for the Ottoman miniature. The şehnâmeci was the writer of the "Book of Kings". The concept of the shāhnāme came from the Persian cultural area and referred to the work of the same name by the famous Persian poet Firdausi . The Ottomans adapted this genre. Unlike the original, however, it was not used to describe legendary historical figures, but to depict contemporary Ottoman rulers. The şehnameci had to compose the verses, often in Persian, and, in coordination with the masters of the nakkaşhane, oversee the production of the magnificent volumes intended for the palace library. The three most significant şehnâmeci for the history of the Ottoman miniature were Fethullah Arif Çelebi or Arifî, who served in this post from 1540 to 1561, Seyyid Lokman, who was şehnâmeci from 1569 to 1595 , and Talikizâde , who succeeded Seyyid Lokman. The works from the workshops of the şehnâmeci are among the most important examples of Ottoman miniature and book art.
As Arifi 1540 şehnâmeci was, he was to make five illustrated stories of the Ottoman dynasty in Persian the order. Three of these manuscripts are still preserved, of which the most significant turn the Süleymannâme is called "Book of Süleyman". This magnificent volume of the highest artistic quality was completed in 1558 and contains 69 full-page miniatures.
Together with Seyyid Lokman, Nakkaş Osman produced some of the most magnificent volumes in Ottoman art history, including Surname-ı Hümayun . He is considered the most important master of Ottoman miniatures.
The end of the tradition in the 17th and 18th centuries
In the 17th century the thematic focus of miniature art shifted from court historiography to the production of dynastic genealogies called silsilenâme . In these works the lineage of the Osman dynasty was partially traced back to Adam . The most important miniaturist of this era was Musavvir Hüseyin, who contributed a large number of portraits for these works.
The last great flourishing of Ottoman miniature painting finally took place in the early 18th century through the work of Abdülcelil Çelebi . Çelebi, better known by his nickname Levni , the Magnificent, did not only create portraits for Ottoman genealogies. Among his best-known works are the illustrations by Königin-i Vehbi , in which the court poet Vehbi describes the celebrations for the circumcision of Ahmed III's sons . describes. It is the last illustrated manuscript that was commissioned for the stately treasury of the Ottomans.
From the middle of the 18th century, Western-European painting styles and the representation on canvases gained increasing influence in Ottoman art and soon supplanted the older and in many ways more intimate tradition of miniature painting.
See also
literature
- Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Masters: Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire . Facts On File, New York 2008. ISBN 978-0-8160-6259-1 .
- Katharina Otto-Dorn : Art of Islam . From the series: Art of the World - Its Historical, Sociological and Religious Foundations . Holle Verlag, Baden-Baden 1964.
- Richard Ettinghausen, Marie Lukens Swietochowski: Islamic Painting . The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 36, no.2 (Herbst, 1978).
- Regina Hickmann: Treasures of Islamic Book Art . People and knowledge. Berlin, 1989.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gülru Necipoğlu: From Byzantine Constantinople to Ottoman Kostantiniyye: Creation of a Cosmopolitan Capital an Visual Culture under Sultan Mehmed II. In: Çağatay Anadol, Doğan Kuban (editor / editor): From Byzantion to Istanbul: 8000 years of a capital. Istanbul 2010, pp. 273-276.
- ↑ As a possible template, the medal based on a design by Costanzo da Ferrara: File: Costanzo da ferrara, mehmet II, 1477-80, recto.JPG .
- ↑ Kathryn Ebel: Illustrated manuscripts and miniature paintings . In: Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Masters: Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire . Facts On File, New York 2008. ISBN 978-0-8160-6259-1 . P. 266f.
- ↑ Katharina Otto-Dorn : Art of Islam . From the series: Art of the World - Its Historical, Sociological and Religious Foundations . Holle Verlag, Baden-Baden 1964. p. 261
- ↑ Kathryn Ebel: Illustrated manuscripts and miniature paintings . In: Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Masters: Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire . Facts On File, New York 2008. ISBN 978-0-8160-6259-1 . P. 267f.
- ↑ Kathryn Ebel: Illustrated manuscripts and miniature paintings . In: Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Masters: Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire . Facts On File, New York 2008. ISBN 978-0-8160-6259-1 . P. 268f.
- ↑ Kathryn Ebel: Illustrated manuscripts and miniature paintings . In: Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Masters: Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire . Facts On File, New York 2008. ISBN 978-0-8160-6259-1 . P. 269f