Marbled Paper (Ebru)

Certain Safavid manuscripts, such as a copy of Farīd al-DīnʿAṭṭār’s Manṭiq al-Ṭayr (MMA 63.210.35), and a double-page illustration of The Princely Hawking Party attributed to Mīrzā ʿAlī (MMA2.223.1 and MFA14.624), are embellished with marbled paper borders with quite different stylistic features. The evolution of these decorative papers resulted from exchanges between artists regarding their methods, materials, as well as their individual talents and tastes. Additionally, these papers not only document the evolution of the art of marbling, but also demonstrate the extent to which members of the Safavid ruling elite deliberately fostered this trend in Iran.

The marbled pattern surrounding The Princely Hawking Party dating to approximately 1570 CE is comparatively primitive, with pale and diffuse colors, and yet it also cleverly connects with the marginal painting of the inner border at specific intervals. A comparison of these inner and outer borders reveals that painted elements were consciously based on the contours of the surrounding marbled pattern. Streams of water merge with the marbling, proving that the latter was intentionally considered as an element of the entire composition when it was originally executed.
In contrast, gold-flecked marbled borders were added to the Manṭiq al-Ṭayr, when the manuscript was refurbished, which likely occurred in the library of the Shrine of Shāh Ṣāfī in Ardabil. These leaves feature a vivid array of colorful patterns that also provide a striking contrast to the rest of the manuscript. Two surviving letters addressed to Mīr Muḥammad Ṭāhir, a Persian marbling artist living in India, sheds light upon why this choice was made. The letters, written by the artists Mullā Khalīl Vaqqārī and Yahyà Qazvīnī (the latter a paper marbler mentioned by Qāżī Aḥmad Qummī in his Gulistān-i Hunar), relate their enthusiastic reaction to seeing Muḥammad Ṭāhir’s work. These artistic exchanges in Iran and India confirm how the art of marbling evolved.

http://www.metmuseum.org/metmedia/video/collections/isl/looking-widely-looking-closely-symposium-part-9

ÖZET Tarih sahnesinden, farklı biçimlerde yorumlanan, mirası farklı boyutlarda değerlendirilenler yalnızca siyasi kişilikler ya da Napolyon gibi askeri portreler değildir. Çoğu zaman kültürel aktörler, müzisyenler örneğinde olduğu gibi benzer bir yaklaşımla karşı karşıya kalırlar. Türk musikisinde icra alanında en önemli portreyi oluşturan Tanburî Cemil Bey de kimilerine göre bir gelenek yıkıcı kimilerine göre ise geleneğin benzersiz sesi olarak değerlendirilebilir. Tanburî Cemil Bey, yaşadığı dönemde yarattığı tüm sıra dışı etkiye rağmen sonraki yıllarda büyük bir ihmale uğramış, adeta unutulmaya terk edilmiştir. Oysa 1950'li yıllarda Niyazi Sayın ve Necdet Yaşar gibi değerli genç icracılar onu yeniden plakları üzerinden keşfetmişler, müzikal mirasını yorumlayarak modern çağa taşımışlardır. Bu genç kaşifler Cemil Bey'i yeniden, müziğin anlam dünyasında var edebilmişlerdir. Özellikle Niyazi Sayın, Tıpkı Cemil Bey'in yaptığı gibi klasik tavrın dışına çıkarak yeni bir tavır inşa edebilmiştir. Kısacası yaratıcı sanatçılarda ortak bir özellik olarak nitelendirilen " yaratıcı yıkıcılık " süreciyle bir geleneği yıkmış, yerine çok etkili olacak yeni bir gelenek kurabilmiştir. Bu tebliğde Neyzen Niyazi Sayın'ın Cumhuriyet döneminde Cemil Bey'in müziğinin kültürel taşıyıcılarından biri ve aynı zamanda kaynağa yönelik kâşif bir portre olarak analizi yapılacaktır. ABSTRACT It is not only political personalities or military portraits like Napoleon, which are interpreted in different forms and interpreted in different dimensions of history. Often, cultural actors face a similar approach, as is the case with musicians. Tanburî Cemil Bey who constitutes the most important portrait in the field of performing in Turkish musicals, according to some he is destroyer of tradition and according to others he is as an unique voice according to tradition. Tanburî Cemil Bey suffered a great deal of neglect in the following years despite all the extraordinary effects he had created in his life, and he was almost forgotten. However, in the 1950s, valuable young performers like Niyazi Sayın and Necdet Yaşar discovered it again on their recordings and interpreted the musical heritage and moved to modern age. These young explorers have been able to bring Cemil Bey back to the meaning of music again. Niyazi Sayın, in particular, was able to build a new attitude out of the classical attitude just as Cemil Bey did. Shortly, in the process of "creative destructiveness", which is described as a common feature in creative artists, a tradition has been able to break down a tradition and become a new and very effective one. In this paper, Neyzen Niyazi Sayın will be analyzed as one of the cultural bearers of Cemil Bey's music during the Republican period and as an explorative portrayal of the source at the same time.

Art and psychotherapy are structurally similar. They both include crucial introjectional effects and reflections on present life. If introjections are not expressed in one way, it would not be surprising to see its devastation effects on psychology and mental health. Art has a protective function against this risk. That is why many types of art and different techniques have been used to treat various psychiatric illnesses. As being a good example of these arts “Ebrû ” is a branch which supplies a quick achievement by the doer and gives self-satisfaction to its artist in a short time. A therapy projects by the use of Ebrû is seen an important tool for the rehabilitation of certain patient groups.   

Based on this idea, I wrote a project proposal when I was a 3rd grade student at university. I received payment by TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey).  I worked on the art of marbling  psychotherapy and art therapy about one year in Süleyman Demirel Hospital. This project namely “Hayallerinizi Renklendirelim” (Let’s color our dreams) is carried out at the hospital psychiatry ward for 12 months with the patients making Erbû under the watch of the doctors on duty. I finalized my project successfully. As a result, some significant positive changes and improvements are observed with the patients taking  part in the project by both the hospital staff  and the project conductors. In the presentation, it is aimed to show the current patients  interest in Ebrû, the behavior changes before and after the treatment with  Ebrû and their final works of Ebrû art.

During the Ottoman era when the Islamic arts of the book constituted a living tradition, master-apprentice instruction (mashq) ensured a certain degree of continuity but did not prevent the occasional emergence of radical artistic innovations. By contrast, in contemporary Turkey where this tradition has been interrupted, the arts in question have been frozen in the persons of a set of arbitrarily selected artists, resulting in the imposition of a static and imitative orthodoxy. This article examines the roles of the master-apprentice relationship and the awarding of artistic licenses (ijazah) in the standardization of the Islamic arts of the book. The historical development of the mashq system is reviewed first, together with the artistic licenses that represent both its end-point and its principal method of quality control. The historical perception of the master-apprentice relationship as reflected by biographical dictionaries and other primary sources is assessed, as well as the partial replacement of individually granted licenses with institutional ones during the later period. This is followed by a discussion of the notion of degeneracy that first surfaced in Europe during the first half of the twentieth century and then entered both left-and right-wing discourses in Turkey during the second half of the century. The influence of this concept on the arts of manuscript illumination and paper marbling, and its consequences, are reviewed next. While the invention of a new licensing tradition in the arts of illumination and marbling, neither of which had such a tradition in the past, can be posited as an effort to forestall their degeneration, in fact the betrayal of tradition for the sake of preserving tradition clearly constitutes a paradox; moreover, this approach stands in the way of the natural further development of the Islamic arts of the book.

Safeguarding and Transmission Through YouTube Bilge TÜZEL** ÖZ Sosyal medya platformları fotoğraf, video ve kişisel bilgilerin (konum, eğitim bilgileri, ilgi alanları vb.) topluluğa sunulduğu tematik paylaşım mekânlarıdır. Bu platformlardan biri olan YouTube kitleleri video aracılığıyla bir araya getirmektedir. YouTube, kullanıcıların içerik oluşturmalarına ve bu içerikleri toplulukla paylaşmalarına imkân verdiği gibi diğer kullanıcıların paylaşımlara ilişkin düşüncelerini, değerlendirmelerini ve yönlendirmelerini sunmalarına da fırsat tanımaktadır. Bu etkileşimsel yönüyle YouTube, somut olmayan kültürel miras unsurlarının da korunması ve aktarılması araçlarından biri hâline gelmiştir. Bu makalede somut olmayan kültürel miras unsurlarından biri olan "Ebru: Türk Kâğıt Süsleme Sanatı"nın uygulama videoları örneklem olarak kullanılmıştır. YouTube'daki Ebru sanatı uygulama videoları, yorumları, beğenileri ve izlenme sayıları netnografik analiz yöntemiyle incelenmiştir. YouTube'daki videolar, "ebru sanatı", "ebru geleneği", "UNESCO ebru marbling" ve geleneğin icracılarının isimleri aranarak taranmıştır. Bu çalışmanın amacı Ebru sanatı ve YouTube örneklemleri üzerinden el sanatları geleneğinin dijitalde belgelenmesi, yeniden canlandırılması ve aktarılması süreçlerinin tartışılmasıdır. "Geleneksel" öğrenme yöntemlerinin dışında dijital mekânda sanatın öğretiminin gerçekleştirilip gerçekleştirilemediğini ve gelenek etrafına gelişen pratiklerin, öğretilerin ve sözlü kültür ürünlerinin aktarımının sağlanıp sağlanamadığını görünür kılmaktır. Bu makalede, geleneğin YouTube'da uygulama videoları aracılığıyla aktarılmasının izleyicilerde ve öğreticilerde nasıl karşılık bulduğu, usta-çırak etkileşiminin nasıl sağlandığı ve dijital mekânın geleneğin hangi yönlerini nasıl değiştirdiği ve dönüştürdüğü sorularına cevap aranmıştır. YouTube'daki resmî ve resmî olmayan kaynaklar tarafından paylaşılan videolar ayrı ayrı olarak ele alınmıştır. Resmî nitelikteki videoların, Ebru sanatını tanıtma; resmî olmayan videoların ise sanatın uygulama süreçlerinin gösterilmesi ve öğretilmesi amacıyla oluşturulduğu anlaşılmıştır. YouTube kullanıcılarının resmî olmayan video paylaşımlarına daha fazla ilgilerinin olduğu görülmüştür. Bu bağlamda çalışmada resmî olmayan ve uygulama niteliği gösteren videolar değerlendirilmiştir. Çalışmada, YouTube'un müzeselliği ve müzelerin YouTube'dan yararlanmaları örneklerle incelenmiştir. Ebru sanatının UNESCO İnsanlığın Somut Olmayan Kültürel Mirası Temsilî Listesi'ne alınması sürecinde sunulan aday dosyada unsura ilişkin video somut olmayan kültürel mirasın temsilî ve sunumu çerçevesinde değerlendirilmiştir. Ebru sanatı aday dosyasındaki koruma taahhütlerinin ise bir kısmının gerçekleştirildiği tespit edilmiştir. YouTube'daki videoların ustaya ve malzemelere ulaşma, içerik oluşturucuyu yönlendirme ve binlerce mesafe uzaklıktaki kişileri bir araya getirme avantajları bulunmaktadır. Geleneksel öğrenim metodundaki usta-çırak ilişkisinde arada bir aracının olmamasının sanatın uygulama biçimleri dışında sosyal, ahlaki ve terbiye öğreniminin de gerçekleştirilmesini sağladığı aynı ilişkinin dijitalde kurulmasının zor olduğu görülmüştür. Buna ek olarak YouTube'da usta-çırak arasındaki ayrımın silikleşmesi dijitalin dezavantajları olarak yorumlanmıştır. YouTube'un Ebru sanatı videolarına ilişkin paylaşımlarıyla içerik oluşturucu, izleyici ve diğer izleyiciler arasında iletişimi ve etkileşimi sağladığı; geleneğin uygulanması ve sürdürülebilmesi hususlarında ilgi ve farkındalık oluşturduğu anlaşılmıştır. Anahtar Kelimeler Dijital kültür, dijital arşiv, somut olmayan kültürel miras, Ebru sanatı, YouTube.

The Tuḥfat al-Aḥrār (The Gift of the Noble) is a mystic-didactic poem in mathnavī form by the prominent Persian poet ‘Abd al-Raḥman Jami (1414–1492). It was composed in 894 AH/1489 AD in honour of the influential Naqshbandi Sufi, Khwaja ‘Ubaydullah Aḥrar (1404–1490). In this work, Jami followed the manner of the Makhzan al-Asrār, an ethicophilosophical poem by the well-known poet Nizami Ganjavi (1141–1209). In 947/1540-41, around half a century after Jami’s death, a copy of the Tuḥfat al-Aḥrār was transcribed in Herat – the city where the poet resided – which begins with Jami’s prose preface (punctuated with verses) to the Tuḥfat al-Aḥrār, followed by the poem. This copy is now preserved at the Harvard Art Museums, no. 2019.106.
The earliest printed edition of Tuḥfat al-Aḥrār was published in London in 1848, edited by Forbes Falconer, containing a preface compiling the accounts of Jami in three tazkiras, including Daulatshah Samarqandi’s Tazkirat al-Shu‘ara’. The editor relied heavily on a copy of Haft Aurang (Tuḥfat al-Aḥrār and four other mathnavis) penned by ‘Ali Hijrani, in Herat, dated 934/1528 (formerly in the collection of N. Bland, Esq. of Randall’s Park), and an undated, but old copy (formerly, ms. 1317, East-India Company). A comparison between this edition and our manuscript shows great resemblance and also proves the precision of the scribe in transcribing.
Harvard’s copy of the Tuḥfat al-Aḥrār has evidently had an eventful journey through time. Although the text block dates to 1540–41, the marbled margins are probably from the eighteenth century and the binding is similar to a technique found in nineteenth-century productions. It provides an unusual case for analysis from different points of view. In what follows, first I briefly mention some of its significant codicological features and then discuss its historical and art historical value.

Made by floating colors on various liquids and carefully laying a sheet on top, marbled papers have captivated the eyes of many around the world for several centuries. The earliest evidence for this art in the Islamic world dates to turn-of-the-sixteenth-century Greater Iran, where it emerged from a context of multifarious decorated paper production for Persianate manuscripts. By 1600, a far more technically advanced method emerged, made with highly refined mineral pigments and other colorants dispersed on the surface of thickened sizing that yielded far more intricate and consistently formed patterns. Exemplified by the vivid attached margins of The Met’s Mantiq al-Tayr (63.210), these innovations are attributed to the enigmatic Persian artist Muhammad Tahir, an émigré to India, probably to the Deccan Sultanates. His patterning methods rapidly spread from the Indian Subcontinent all the way to Europe, where aside from book bindings, they were soon applied as the first polychrome security device to paper currency issued by the Bank of England in 1695, “Sola bills” for the Georgia Colony in 1740, as well as the first twenty-dollar bills printed in Philadelphia by the Second Continental Congress in 1775.

Made by floating colours on liquids and laying sheets of paper over top to capture them, the earliest evidence for this art in the Islamic world dates to turn of the 15th to 16th centuries in Greater Iran. Using mainly organic colourants, early marblers produced just three patterns: rudimentary stylized drop-motifs, soft swirls, and abstract spotted designs. These papers were used for covering, mounting, and margining manuscripts, as well as for stationery by Persian calligraphers such as Mir ‘Ali Haravi (d. 1544), his students, and followers. Eventually practised on an early-industrial scale serving the paper trade in urban centres like Istanbul, the curiously colourful “Turkish papers” captivated European travellers who bound them into alba amicorum (books of friendship).

By 1600, an advanced process appeared in which highly refined mineral pigments were dispersed upon thickened sizing that provided greater control and yielded a wide range of vivid, intricately-formed patterns such as distinct curled, chevron, combed, and craquelure designs. These innovations are attributed to an enigmatic Persian artist and émigré to India— likely to the Deccan Sultanates— named Muhammad Tahir. His patterning methods rapidly spread to Europe, where indigenous production soon took hold.

In addition to bookbindings, Muhammad Tahir’s designs were utilised as the first polychrome security device applied to paper currency issued by the Bank of England in 1695, as well as the first American twenty-dollar bills issued in 1775, and promissory notes used by Benjamin Franklin to secure French financing for the War of Independence (1779–82). In this way, the colourful marbling of a Persian Muslim immigrant to India proved to be a transformative technology that not only safeguarded the fledging fractional reserve economies of England and the United States at critical junctures but even helped guarantee the latter’s independence.

Known as ebru in Modern Turkish today, marbled papers were called kāġaẕ-i abrī (“clouded paper” in Persian)- or more simply as abrī -in more than seventy Persian, Ottoman, Chaghatai, and Urdu sources. The advent and early history of this art in the Islamic world are enigmatic. While some claim it is very old, the earliest evidence only dates to the end of the fifteenth-century, suggesting it emerged from a context of prodigious and multifarious decorated paper production during the Timurid era.

The earliest technical account from India, dated before AH 1014/1605 CE, describes marbling on a water bath with organic colourants, resulting in a limited range of pale, softly swirled, or turbulent patterns. A second method describes dispersing mineral pigments on a mucilaginous bath extracted from fenugreek seeds. If spattered, the droplets would randomly fall and form pebble-like designs, but if applied in individual drops and bisected with a bristle or stylus, simple leaf-like motifs designs could be formed.

Such simple drop-motifs are found on our earliest dated evidence, a pair of marbled leaves, one bearing a note stating that they were a gift “from Iran” to Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Khalji of Mandu in AH 901/1496 CE. This is contemporaneous with an attribution for the invention of abrī to the Timurid munshi Abdullah Murvarid of Herat (d. AH 921/1515 CE). Other bisected drop-motifs arranged rows arranged in alternating colours and rows are found on a practice sheet signed by Jamal al-Shirazi in AH 920/1514 CE. Both examples prove such simple drop-motifs are among the earliest abrī designs, some 250 years before Hatip Mehmed Ef. (d. AH 1187/1773 CE).

The similarity of primitive styles manufactured a large geographic region makes it challenging to ascertain provenance for many early abrī papers. Mir ‘Ali Haravi (d. AH 951/1544–45 CE) frequently composed poems and riddles upon softly swirled patterns, a practice imitated his students and followers. Similar papers found in découpage manuscripts in Topkapı Palace dated AH 946/1539–40 CE, but we cannot say where the papers were made. In contrast, a copy of Sharḥ al-Wasīṭ completed in Kütahya in the AH mid-Jumada al-Ūlā 966/late-February 1559 CE, may indicate the earliest indigenous Anatolian manufacture. Early European friendship books that incorporate Ottoman papers prove the art was soon practised on a modest industrial scale by stationers in Istanbul. Many of the designs are extremely similar to early pebbled patterns used by Shah Mahmud Nishapuri (d. 1566–67) in Mashhad, and even a Bijapuri miscellany written in 1572–80, making it difficult to distinguish local from regional trends.

In circa 1600, patterns become more sophisticated, a style called haft rang abrī (seven-colour abrī), attributed to an enigmatic figure named Mir Muhammad Tahir, a member of the Safavid elite who emigrated to the Deccan in India, where he attained mastery over the art. Muhammad Tahir’s methods spread rapidly throughout the eastern Islamic world, and evidence suggests that Ottoman artists readily adopted his pattern-making procedures. Yet the earliest, anonymously written Ottoman Turkish technical account, Tertîb-i Risâle-yi Ebrî (Composition of a Treatise on Marbling), an artists' miscellany compiled from earlier sources sometime after 1615 recounts how Indian materials like soapberry were unavailable, implying that readily available local materials such as ox gall were substituted instead. In doing so, early Ottoman marblers developed their own unique methods and approaches with their own distinct tradition of marbling that ultimately flowered into the contemporary practice of ebru.

ABSTRACT
The most important part of a book that makes it stand is the hardcover. A part of the hardcovers,
which are usually covered with gazelle or shagreen skin, are made of metal, fabric, marbling, etc. also
produced using. Hardcovers of twenty-six artworks obtained their photographs among the eight hundred
and ten Turkish manuscripts in the Oriental Collection of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Library in
Budapest were examined, among these artworks, six manuscripts with marbling inside or outside which
were produced in different centuries, were found.
The manuscript named Yusuf u Züleyha with inventory no. Ms Török Qu25 is masnavi of Kemal
Paşazade Ahmet Şemseddin (died in 940/1534) known as İbn-i Kemal in the sources. This manuscript
was copied by Ali b. Abdurrahman in 941/1534. The outer hardcover without marker of the artwork was
covered with Orator Marbling.
The manuscript named Risale-i Tuhfetü’l- Guzat with inventory no. Ms Török, O.128 was epistle
of Matrakçı Nasuh (born in 1480-died in 1564) copied in 1006/1597. Outer hardcover of the artwork was
shawl marbling. Inner of the marker was Crested Marbling.
The manuscript named Hüsrev u Şirin with inventory no. Ms Török, O.427 starts with a Persian
Eulogium written by Azeri İbrahim Chelebi (died in 993/ 1588). Its inner hardcover with marker was
covered by Shawl Marbling.
The manuscript named Tahmis-i Kaside-i Bürde with inventory no. Ms Török, O.345 was written
by Süleyman Nahifi b. Abdullah (died in 1151/ 1738) who was a good clerk, a talented calligrapher, a
master Ottoman poet. The outer hardcover without marker of the artwork was covered with Nightingale’s
Nest Marbling.
The manuscript named Tophane-i Amireden Rumelikavak Hisarına Değin Salih-haneleri Beyan
Eder with inventory no. Ms Török O.141 is about some coast locations in Istanbul. The artwork whose
calligrapher is not known is registered as 1211/1796. Inner of its hardcover is covered with Grainy Large
Marbling
Calligrapher of the artwork named Kitabü En’am-ı Şerif with inventory no. Ms Török O.406 is not
known and no information about its copy date. Inner hardcover was covered with Large Marbling.
The examinations and evaluations about whether the marbling, one of our ancient arts, which
covers the outer and inner of the mentioned artworks, belong to the periods in which the manuscripts
were produced, or in which centuries they might have been produced will be discussed in this paper.

Exhibition brochure on the subject of handmade decorative papers, produced from the 16th until the 19th centuries, from the personal collection of the Dutch art dealers Theo and Frans Laurentius. Published to accompagny an exhibition in Museum Meermanno in The Hague in 2008.

Die marmorierte Blüten aus dem 17. Jahrhundert aus Deutschland sind sehr selten. Im Gegensatz zu den Beispielen aus dem Orient ist es deshalb auch schwierig, diese alten Beispiele zu datieren. Marmorierte Blumen in der Sammlung der Herzog August Bibliothek können uns neue Informationen über den Beginn dieser Praxis in Deutschland liefern.

Ebru sanatı, tarihin derinliklerinden günümüze gelen kadim Türk sanatlarından biridir. Yoğunlaştırılmış su yüzeyinde renkleri coşturan ve şekillere anlam kazandıran bu sanat, Türk süsleme sanatlarından sayılmakla beraber, yan kağıtlarının ve kitap kapaklarının iç ve dış süsü olarak algılanan ‘zanaat’ algısını çok gerilerde bırakmıştır. Ebru, artık bir sanat ve estetik anlayışı ile kültürüne sahip insanların evlerini ve duvarlarını süsleyerek renk katan bir hale gelmiştir.
Battal ebrusu, gel-git ebrusu, Somaki ebru, Neftli ebru, Taraklı ebru, Dalgalı-Sarhoş ebrusu, Bülbül Yuvası vs. içinde çiçek olmayan ebru çeşitleri olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Hatip ebrusunun çeşitliliği insanlara ayrı zevk verip farklı algılar oluştururken, çiçekli ebrular evlerin ve işyerlerinin duvarlarını çiçek bahçesine dönüştürmekte ve Ebru kültürünün sanat niteliğini tartışılmayacak hale getirmektedir.
Ayasofya Camii kebirinin İmam Hatiplerinden Hatip Mehmet efendiye atfedilen hatip çeşitlerinin bir çoğu, Hatip Mehmet Efendiden çok önce kullanıldığı, tarihin arşiv kayıtlarının mekanı olan ve Osmanlı Arşivinde bulunan tarihi defter kayıtlarında ve kapaklarında da görülmektedir. Tespit ettiğimiz en eski Yürekli Ebru örneği, Kanuni Sultan Süleyman dönemine ait bir defterde de  görülmektedir. Osmanlı Arşivinin önemli defter serilerinden olan ve Meşihat bölümünde, Şer’iye Sicil Defterinin kapağında bulunan, Hicri-956, Miladi-1550 tarihli Yürekli Ebru, önemli bir kaynak olarak tespit edilmiştir. Bu tebliğde, Hatip ebru çeşitlerinden biri olarak bilinen ‘’Yürekli Ebru’’nun niteliği ve tarihi serüvenindeki yeri ele alınacak ve bilinen bir yanlış da düzeltilmeye çalışılacaktır.