Illustrated Manuscripts

Felix Mendelssohn and Paul Hindemith, composing about one hundred years apart, integrated visual elements, including drawings and illustrated notations, into musical manuscripts they designed as gifts for women they admired. The two documents, illustrating Mendelssohn’s Schilflied (1842) and Hindemith’s Ludus Tonalis (1942), are strong declarations of compositional and artistic ideology. This article examines the scores as reflecting, respectively, aspects of nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century conceptions of musical composition and form, and their relation to visual media.

NB: Translated by Farshad Moshfeghi for Iran's Music Report Magazine (2012)

Anhand einer illustrierten Handschrift aus Frankfurt am Main aus dem Jahre 1471 wird erforscht wie das Publikum solcher Handschriften beschaffen wa rund mit welchen Ansprüchen dieses an das Medium herantrat. Da bei dieser Handschrift der möglicherweise einzigartige Fall gegeben ist, das ein künstlerisch geschulter wohlhabender Handwerker das Buch für sich selbst geschrieben und illustriert hat, eignet sich das Werk im besonderen für die Betrachtung.

The paper gives an overview of the beginnings of the artistic presentation of individual cities and towns on the Danube in the central part of its course, from Buda to Belgrade. These depictions were initially, from the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries, limited to the two cities mentioned. We find them in the works or editions by Hartmann Schedel, Wolfgang Resch, Erhardt Schön, Sebastian Münster and other, more recent authors or publishers. The earliest depictions of certain places in the part of the Danube between the Drava and the Sava (for example Vukovar) can be found in miniatures of illuminated Ottoman codices. Among them, the first place belongs to a chronicle codex from 1546, illustrated by Matrakçı Nasuh el-Visokavi, a polymath author of Bosnian origin.
Western artists have been depicting places in this area since the late 16th century, as a rule in the function of documenting diplomatic trips along the Danube from Christian Europe to the Ottoman Empire. Travelogues form an extremely interesting and data-rich group of sources for the history of the middle Danube region during the Ottoman rule (16th-17th centuries). Dozens of European travelers who traveled through the Danube region to Constantinople or other parts of the Ottoman Empire during this period, for diplomatic or other purposes, left detailed records of the circumstances they observed and experiences they had. Some of these texts are accompanied by artistic illustrations – drawings of individual settlements and other scenes seen on the trip. The Baranya, Slavonian and Syrmian sections of the Danube region appear in illustrations in four travelogues. Heinrich Ottendorf's work, Der Weg von Ofen auf Griechischen Weissenburg, compiled in 1663-1665 and preserved in manuscript (published in 1943), provides the plans of various towns between Buda and Belgrade based on the sightings of a traveler using the roads. Of the cities on the Danube, Vukovar and Zemun are shown here. Edward Brown's travelogue, first published in London in 1673 under the title A brief account of some travels in Hungaria ..., contains copperplate engravings depicting the long Turkish bridge from Osijek to Darda and a village in Srijem with dugout houses.
The remaining two illustrated travelogues can be defined as "Danubian" in the proper sense because their authors used the Danube waterway for travel. A manuscript "travelogue" was recently discovered in Leiden, consisting of the drawings only, without a textual description of the journey, and was probably made by an unknown member of a group mission to Constantinople that traveled the Danube waterway and the Balkans by land around 1580. Leiden's "drawing block", later entitled Imagines urbium quarundam Hungariae et Turciae, contains 26 completed drawings and five unfinished sketches showing places from Hainburg on the Danube to the western approaches to Constantinople. Among them are depictions of seven Slavonian-Syrmian places: Osijek, Erdut, Vukovar, Šarengrad, Petrovaradin, Slankamen and Zemun. The exceptional historical value of these realistic drawings is underlined by the fact that they are the oldest known visual representations of Western provenance that reveal the appearance of settlements in the lower interfluve of the Drava and Sava rivers.
The main attention in the paper is paid to the lost illustrated codex by Maximilian Prandstetter (Brandstetter), with a description of the journey of 1608-1609. The travelogue entitled Itinerarium oder Raisbeschreibung has been known since the 19th century, in which Prandstetter described in German the path of the Habsburg imperial embassy to Constantinople under the leadership of Baron Adam of Herberstein. The travelogue has been preserved in two manuscript codices, and was published both in excerpts and in its entirety in the 20th century. One of the two codices, housed in the private library in Hédervár owned by the counts of Viczay and then Khuen-Héderváry, was richly illustrated, but after World War II it disappeared and was probably destroyed. Among other illustrations, it contained views, made in watercolor, of six places from the mouth of the Drava to the mouth of the Sava into the Danube; indirectly, in various copies, depictions of Erdut, Vukovar, Ilok and Zemun have survived. From illustrations with depictions of other places, those depicting Buda and Mohács have been preserved, apparently as fragments of the original codex.

Paper was introduced to India in 10th century CE and was widely used for the purpose of writing (Vaidya & Kulkarni, 2016: 240-242). In India, every religious sect has contributed in collecting and preserving these manuscripts (Shafi, 2005: 1-4). The following paper is an attempt to analyze the illustrated manuscript to understand about the social and cultural milieu in terms of the jewellery illustrated in the manuscript. Some sculptures have also been studied in order to formulate a better understanding. The text section of the manuscript has not been taken into consideration for the purpose of this paper. Not all museums were personally visited by the author which served as a limitation. All the information presented, was gathered through secondary resources.

TR - İslam edebiyatında tezkirecilik, tarih biliminin bir kolu olarak ortaya çıkan ve temeli Hz. Muhammed’in hadislerinin derlenmesi geleneğine dayanan bir biyografik yazın türüdür. Arap, İran ve Osmanlı oğrafyasında, pek çok meslek dalında ün kazanan kişilerin hayat hikayelerinin derlendiği tezkire alanında verilen eserler arasında en rağbet görenler şair, evliya ve sanatçı tezkireleridir. Yazılan tezkirelerden çok azının resimlenmiş olması ile hâl tercümesi metinde verilen kişilerin görsel imgeleri de yansımıştır.
Şair, münşi ve kadı olan Âşık Çelebi’nin (ölm. 1571-72) 1568 yılında tamamladığı, Osmanlı devrinin kronolojik olarak üçüncü sırada gelen tezkiresi Meşâ’irü’ş-Şu’arâ’nın pek çok kopyası arasında, İstanbul Millet Kütüphanesi (İMK) Ali Emîrî Efendi Tarih 772’de kayıtlı nüshası resimli tek örnek olması bakımından önem taşımaktadır. Söz konusu musavver nüsha, mukaddime kısmında padişah portreleri ile eserin yazarı da dahil üç tezkirecinin tasvirlerini, ayrıca hâl tercümesi verilen 415 şairden 74 tanesinin resmini içermektedir.
Osmanlı tasvir sanatı içinde resimli yegane şair tezkiresi olması bakımından da önem taşıyan Meşâ’irü’ş-Şu’arâ’nın toplam 88 tasviri zaman içinde tahrip olarak çeşitli müdahalelere maruz kalmıştır. Öncülü ya da ardılı olmayan eser, bu çalışma ile hem resim-metin ilişkisi, hem portrelerinin üslup tartışılması bağlamında tanıtılmış; resimlenme dönemi ve mukaddimesinin özgünlüğü açısından tartışılmıştır.
Tasvirlerinin 16. yüzyılın ikinci yarısında Osmanlı sarayında çalışmış musavverlerin üsluplarını yansıttığı karşılaştırma örnekleriyle ortaya konulurken, eserin İslam kitap sanatındaki yeri de belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır.

EN -  The tazkira genre in Islam which is a literature genre of collective biography tradition based on the compiling of the Prophet Mohammed’s hadith has appeared as a branch of history. The poet, sufî, and artist biographies have been the most popular tazkiras among those that are collected for many people with different professions in Arab, Iran and Ottoman lands. Only a small number of the myriad of tazkiras were illustrated that transforms the verbal texts into visual representations.
The third earliest Ottoman collective biography of poets, Masha’ir al-Shu’ara which was completed in 1568 by the poet, writer and judge Ashik Chelebi (d. 1571-72) has a single illustrated copy in Istanbul Millet Library, Ali Emiri Tarih 772 among many other unillustrated volumes. The copy in question is an important work in many aspects. Its introduction part is not only a unique piece when comparing with its contemporaries, but also is highlighted with a series of sultan portraits and three of the tazkira writers including the author of the book. Seventy-four of the 415 poets have their portraits in the main text of Masha’ir al-Shu’ara.
The tazkira is important as the only illustrated collective biographies of poets in Ottoman art of books which has no predecessor or successor. Most of its 88 portraits, however, have been damaged over time and tried to be repaired by unskillful hands at an unknown date. The manuscript is examined in this dissertation by means of text-image relation with a stylistic analysis of the illustrations both in the introduction part and its main section. The portraits seem to be reflecting the style of the painters who were active at the second half of the 16th century at the court atelier. Another aim of this study is to figure out where this illustrated tazkira stands in the Islamic art of books.

This essay focuses on a corpus of eight mid- to late eleventh-/seventeenth-century illustrated manuscripts of the poem Sūz u Gudāz by the poet Nawʿī (d. c. 1019/1610). The text describes the struggle of a Hindu maiden, whose fiancé has died, to commit satī on his funeral pyre despite the interventions of various figures in her life. The essay discusses how later Safavid painters adapted and transformed established pictorial compositions associated with masṉ avīs from the Khamseh (“Quintet”) of Neẓāmī to illustrate Nawʿī’s poem, reflecting its status as a javāb (pointed response) to Neẓāmīan romances. The illustrators often altered the compositional models to draw attention to the gendered dimensions of Nawʿī’s subversive poetics.

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.

This unique medieval Arabic manuscript, which contains 96 miniatures, has often attracted the attention of researchers but has never before been subjected to such a thorough analysis. The author has investigated the features of the pictures and the compositon of the miniatures, thereby disclosing yet another aspect of Arab artistic culture.

Уникальная средневековая арабская рукопись, содержащая 96 миниатюр, неоднократно привлекала внимание исследователей, но никогда ранее не подвергалась столь тщательному анализу. Автор исследовал особенности живописи и композиции миниатюр, что позволило раскрыть еще одну страницу арабской художественной культуры.

This Paper deals with identification and exploration of factors that influenced the throne imagery in the Ilkhanid Illustrated manuscripts in the 14th century. Throne is the central element in the enthronement scenes, as one of the more frequent themes in Persian art. From the very beginning of the Islamic art, thrones appeared in royal scenes illustrated in Umayyad palaces and continued in royal iconography. During the Ilkhanid period the throne image as well as the enthronement scenes appeared frequently in illustrated books as the main media for royal iconography in that era.
The Ilkhanid throne was first investigated in the sixth volume of Survey in Persian Art (in Persian Translation). The authors explored various thrones of that era, the ornaments and their main members such as backseat, cushions and stool according to the visual sources, especially the book paintings. They also pointed to the Chinese influences on these thrones.  The diversity of thrones in the Arabic Manuscript of Jami’ al-Tawarikh was first examined in David Donavan’s detailed article which mainly dealt with the roots of the various throne forms in this codex. In his study, Donavan identified three types of thrones according to their basis. He also believed that although Chinese elements are visible in thrones’ structure and ornaments, basic form of the Persian throne’s image is still continued; the notion which is emphasized by Yoka Kadoi in 2009. The current study explores the Ilkhanid throne’s image during three phases of Ilkhanid illustration development with regard to the medium of illustrated book. Three main questions of this research are as follows: what are the main throne types in Ilkhanid painting? What factors have influenced the throne structure and ornaments? And how the illustrated book, as a medium, influenced the throne image in that era?
  The study is based on analyzing  85 images selected from seven illustrated manuscripts that belong to three stages of development of Ilkhanid painting; 36 images from Small Shahnama (three manuscripts attributed to 1400 AD, dispersed in various collections), 10 images from Balami’s Tarikhnama (a historical manuscript attributed to 1400 AD, preserved in free and Sackler Gallery),  22 images from Jami’ al-Tawarikh (another historical manuscript attributed to 1410s AD, Preserved in Edinburg library and Khalili Collection), 7 folios from Diez Album attributed to an Illustrated manuscript of Tarikh-i Mobarak-i Gazani which is dated c. 1420s, (preserved in Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin)  and 10 images from the great Ilkhanid Shahnama (attributed to 1430s, dispersed in various collections).
The throne image transformation is studied in terms of the throne’s structure, ornaments and the pictorial compositions. The result shows that the Ilkhanid workshops inherited the concepts and visual elements from the pre-Mongol era and combined them with far Eastern elements in throne iconography. This could be traced in the variety of forms and ornamentations in throne images. At the beginning of the era (last decade of the 13th century and early years of the 14th century) the throne image was represented similar to the pre-Mongol throne image in terms of structure. By establishing the Tabriz workshops, the Chinese influences gradually appeared in throne image, especially in books illustrated in Tabriz. Beyond general form and ornamentation, the Ilkhanid painters applied perspective in illustrating throne based on Chinese model. In addition to this limited use of perspective, the painters tended to decorate thrones with various types of vegetal and geometric ornamentations as visual devices for showing the thrones’ luxurious aspect. Their tendency to illustrate the reality also reflects in emitting the traditional symbolism in form of animals or transforming them into decorative objects. Consequently, the Mongol invasion could be considered as a turning point in throne iconography. Several factors were involved in the throne image evolution; first of all the pre-Mongol tradition which could be traced on ceramic and metalwork as well as book illustrations, secondly, the Chinese model, thirdly, ornamental details borrowed from Chinese art which were transferred to Ilkhanid workshops by merchants and fourthly, the consideration of image as a visual narrative of text which is reflected in throne image as a realistic representation. This is expressed by applying perspective, excessive use of ornaments and avoiding the traditional and symbolic models in enthronement scenes.

In what is probably the earliest illustrated Bhāgavata attributed to Mewar, the Sanskrit text of the Bhāgavata, the text of a Sanskrit commentary on the Bhāgavata (by Śrīdhara Svāmin), vernacular captions, and illustrations come together to recount the adventures of Kṛṣṇa. All four elements typically occur on the recto and verso of every folio of this double-sided manuscript, creating a singular combination of text and image rarely seen in other illustrated Bhāgavatas. Close examination of the folios reveals that the borders were added subsequently; the vernacular captions are occasionally written on these attached borders, suggesting that they too were included later.

This article imagines how the manuscript was handled, viewed, and used. Borders and other physical additions help ensure the manuscript’s longevity while new folio numbers reorder the series. The vernacular captions were written while looking at the illustrations, referencing painted details not mentioned in the Sanskrit text; they were probably incorporated due to a shift in the manuscript’s function. By paying attention to such organisational, narrative, and material aspects, this article attempts to understand how the manuscript was reframed during the course of its life.

In mittelalterlichen Texten haben Dinge so unterschiedlichen wie perspektivabhängigen Charakter. Dieser Band präsentiert für fast jeden Buchstaben des Alphabets Dinge, die in der deutschsprachigen Literatur des Mittelalters zwischen circa 1200 und 1500 vorkommen. Von A wie Apfel der Discordia über M wie Minnetrank bis Z wie Zaubersteine werden Requisiten prominenter Texte betrachtet. Theoretische Überblicksbeiträge, die systematische Zugänge zur Dingtheorie bieten, ergänzen die einzelnen 'Dinggeschichten'. [Klappentext]

Prudentius's popular fourth-century poem describes the internal battle between vice and virtue that occurs in every soul. The Anglo-Saxon illustrated manuscripts draw on earlier continental cycles, borrowing the composition of individual scenes while changing the gender of the figures illustrated. In the Latin text, both vice and virtue are feminine; in the continental illustrations virtues are male warriors, and the vices are dangerous women who must be defeated. The Anglo-Saxon cycles attempt to transform the male virtues into female figures, while continuing the tradition of the feminine virtue. Yet, the cycles are not consistent in their representation of male and female. The virtues are often masculine women with long or short hair whose clothing can be interpreted as female attire or male ecclesiastical dress; their enemy vices similarly waver between feminine and masculine iconography. In one case, Libido becomes more feminine as a masculine Pudicitia defeats her. In another, Avaritia's portrayal alternates between a seemingly male vice and breastfeeding mother. By drawing on such instances of ambiguity, this paper will demonstrate how the Anglo-Saxon artists use the inconsistent, often confusing, representations, to make comments on gender roles and identity in Late Anglo-Saxon society in order to stress the dangers of vice and rewards of virtue.

Caught in a Whirlwind: A Cultural History of Ottoman Baghdad as Reflected in its Illustrated Manuscripts focuses on a period of great artistic vitality in the region of Baghdad, a frontier area that was caught between the rival Ottoman and the Safavid empires. In the period following the peace treaty of 1590, a corpus of more than thirty illustrated manuscripts and several single page paintings were produced. In this book Melis Taner presents a contextual study of the vibrant late sixteenth-century and early seventeenth-century Baghdad art market, opening up further avenues of research on art production in provinces and border regions.