[Calligraphic specimen, 1206, i.e. 1791 or 1792].

Exquisite album of calligraphy (muraqqaʻ / murakkaa) employing ḥadīth of the Prophet executed by the celebrated Ottoman calligrapher Mahmud Celâleddin Efendi (d.1829) in imitation of a model executed by the master calligrapher Hafız Osman Efendi (d.1698).

Shelfmark: Ann Arbor, University of Michigan, Special Collections Library, Isl. Ms. 229

Origin: As appears in colophon on final panel, executed by Mahmud Celâleddin in 1206 [1791 or 2] and copied from a model executed by Hafız Osman Efendi in 1108 [1696 or 7].

Former shelfmark: "99" in pencil on recto of opening panel ; numeral and "T. D. M" [i.e. Tammaro De Marinis] on verso of final panel.

Binding: Boards covered (faced) in blue and white marbled paper (kumlu ebru) with red leather over spine and board edges / turn-ins (leather edged framed binding) ; Type III binding (without flap) ; board linings in same marbled paper ; panels hinged together in same red leather ; overall in fairly good condition.

Support: Written area on well-burnished paper, pieced, set into frames of marbled paper (ebru) mainly in shades of blue, pink, yellow and black, and mounted on thin boards.

Decoration: Illuminated rectangular pieces filled with vegetal decoration in shades of gold, pink, orange, and lavender on fields of blue, gold, etc. flank mid and lower sections of written area on each panel ; written area and divisions within surrounded by frames of gold defined by black fillets ; illuminated textual dividers in the form of gold rosettes with red, orange and blue accents.

Script: Exquisite specimen of Ottoman calligraphy ; large lines of each panel (typically opening and closing lines) in thuluth (sülüs), with central lines in naskh (nesih).

Layout: Written in 6 to 13 lines per page, including two lines of thuluth with four centered lines of naskh, two lines of thuluth with eight diagonal lines of naskh, one line of thuluth with seven lines of naskh, one line of thuluth with nine diagonal and then three horizontal lines of naskh, etc. ; thuluth and naskh carry separate streams of text.

Collation: Five 'panels' edged and hinged together with red leather ; numbered in pencil with Hindu-Arabic numerals in the upper outer corner of the written area for each piece ; opens vertically.

Colophon: "كتبه من لا قدر له ولا قدر ولا نخل بواديه ولا سدره اضعف العباد الكتاب عثمان المشتهر بحافظ كلام الوهاب شاكرا لله الملك الوهاب ومصليا على نبيه محمد واله وصحبه اجمعين وسلم تسليما كثيرا كثيرا سنة ثمان ومائة والف من هجرة من له العز والشرف ونقلها محمود المعروف بجلال الدين مع الكتبة والتنقيح بعينها غفر الله ذنوبهما ١٢٠٦"

Explicit: "نور المسلم من شاب شيبة في الاسلام كتب الله بها حسنة وكفر عنه بها خطيئة ورفعه بها درجة اللهم صل وسلم على اشرف الخلق واكمل الخلق محمد واله الطاهرين اجمعين

Incipit: [thuluth] "بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم وبه نستعين وعليه التكلان من الخذلان ..." ; [naskh] "والدباران ياتيها بعد ان تفوته ..."

Title supplied by cataloguer.

Ms. codex.

Rado, Şevket. Türk hattatları : XV. yüzyıldan günümüze kadar gelmiş ünlü hattatların hayatları ve yazılarından örnekler. (Istanbul : Yayın Matbaacılık Ticaret Limited Şti., [1984?]),

Derman, M. Uğur. Letters in gold : Ottoman calligraphy from the Sakıp Sabancı collection, Istanbul. (New York : Metropolitian Museum of Art : Distributed by H.N. Abrams, c1998),

Zakariya, Mohamed. "Islamic calligraphy: A technical overview." In Brocade of the pen: the art of Islamic writing. Carol Garrett Fisher, ed. (East Lansing, MI: Kresge Art Museum, Michigan State University, 1991):

Brocade of the pen : the art of Islamic writing. Carol Garrett Fisher, ed. (East Lansing, MI: Kresge Art Museum, Michigan State University, 1991),

Exquisite album of calligraphy (muraqqaʻ / murakkaa) employing ḥadīth of the Prophet executed by the celebrated Ottoman calligrapher Mahmud Celâleddin Efendi (d.1829) in imitation of a model executed by the master calligrapher Hafız Osman Efendi (d.1698).

Mode of access: Internet.

Acquired by purchase (funds donated by Horace Rackham).

Inscriptions in pencil "T.D.M. [i.e. Tammaro De Marinis]" (following numeral) on verso of final panel and "99" on recto of opening panel ; otherwise clean copy.