Islamic books and Illuminated
manuscripts
Earliest known Islamic book: Great Umayyad Qur’an
• Ca. 670 - 710 AD, found in ruins of Sanaa mosque,
Yemen, but probably created in Syria
Early
illumination
(frontispiece):
“Anonymous
Baghdad
Qur’an”,
Ilkhanid
period, 1306-7
Note the 3 types of decoration/
What are they?
Major centers of Islamic book arts:
Safavid Dynasty, Iran (1501 – 1722)
Mughal Dynasty, India (1526 – 1858)
Ottoman Empire, Turkey (1516 – 1918)
These sites excelled at all the book arts: binding, calligraphy
and illumination. Royal workshops were main sources of book
production because of expense involved, and investment of
patrons. Books were seen as financial investments, status
symbols and gifts between heads of state.
Process of bookmaking in a royal workshop:
• Workshop director made aesthetic decisions (layout, etc.) and provided
direction.
• Paper was made from rags of linen and hemp, sometimes decorated with
gold sprinkles, tinting, or marbling, then sized.
• Scribe prepared ink (ash boiled with gallnuts), made pens and pressed
guidelines into paper. Then he copied text in indicated areas.
• Painters laid out composition with very fine brush, then created pigments
from ground minerals such as malachite, lapis lazuli, cinnabar, or lead
mixed with albumen (egg yolk) or gum arabic.
• Following the completion of the illustrations, illuminators and gilders
added flourishes to the text, such as colored frames, along with
frontispieces and end pages. Each sheet was burnished with a hard stone,
glass or shell.
• Pages were sewn and bound together, then attached to tooled and/or
gilded leather covers.
http://collections.lacma.org/node/239900
• Qur’an, Shiraz, 16th century
• Collection,
LACMA
Parts of a book:
• Covers
• Shamsa (first page) – a medallion
• Chapter headings (sarlowh – full page,
unwan – upper half decoration)
• Colophon (last page)
Shamsa, Safavid
• Medallion with
cartouches
(ornamental
frame/form) top and
bottom
Medallions carried into text, early
Spanish illumination
Shamsa (double)
• Ca. 1300, Southern Spain or Morocco
Chapter
heading
• Safavid Qur’an
• Thuluth and
Naskh scripts
• 1571
Colophon
• Turkish,
Ottoman
Empire, 1813
• Name of artist
listed along
with a prayer
Safavid Dynasty
Allegory of Worldly and
Otherworldly Drunkenness: Divan
(collected poems) or Hafiz; ca.
1531-33, Savafid period, Sultan
Muhammad, Taviz, Iran
A Stallion, ca. 1601, Habiballah of Sava
Iranian/Persian book: History of Shah Jahan, 1825
Safavid secular books -
science
“Marvels of Creation and Oddities of Existence
http://collections.lacma.org/node/239
930
Manuscript of the Khamsa (Quintet) of Nizami
https://vimeo.com/35276945
How a Persian miniature
painting is made,
courtesy of
Harvard’s Art Museums.
Ottoman Empire
Album of Hadith, ca. 1500, by Sheikh Hamdullah
legendary Ottoman calligrapher who developed
thuluth and naskh script styles
Qur’an cover, Ottoman, 1500s
Khusraw va Shirin of Hatifi, 1498-9
Double frontispiece
Title page and colophon
Mughal Dynasaty
• Descended from a Timurid prince, the leaders of
the Mughal dynasty were keen patrons of the
arts, especially books and miniature painting.
• Akbar, his son Jahangir and grandson Shah Jahan
brought together artists from every region they
could: Indian Hindus and Muslims, Europeans,
Chinese and especially Persians.
• The reign of Shah Jahan (1592 – 1666) is
considered the golden age of Mughal art and
architecture.
Akbar worked to unite
Hindus and Muslims,
partly through art. In
this painting from a
series depicting the
Indian epic Ramayana,
Mughal and Hindu
artistic motifs unite.
• “Rama receives Surgriva
and Jambavat, the
Monkey and Bear Kings”,
Ca. 1605, Mughal India
Alexander [the Great]
visits the sage Plato in
his Mountain Cave: folio
from Khamsa of Amir
Khusrau Kihlavi, 1597-8
Legend of Hari Krishna,
ca. 1590 - 95
• Another Hindu classic
translated into Persian
language and illustrated
by Akbar’s court artists.
• Akbar had great interest
in Hindu religion and
literature.
The Shah Jahan
Album
ca. 1620
Nanha, India
Glorification of Akbar,
attributed to Govardhan
• Notice the ATTRIBUTES
• How is Akbar portrayed?
How is this different than,
say, the portrayal of people
in Safavid miniatures?
• What other cultural
influences can we see?
The Shah
Jahan Album
The Shamsa from the Shah
Jahan Album
Nilgai (blue bull) by Mansur
• Verso of Nilgai,
showcasing
Nasta’liq script.
• The Shah Jahan album was begun under
Jahangir, father of Shah Jahan, and added to
by Shah Jahan throughout his reign (r. 1627 –
1658). He was deposed by his son, who
subsequently forbade art and music in his
realm.
• Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal for his wife
Mumtaz Mahal (1631 – 48)
• Much other architecture and fine objects were
commissioned by Shah Jahan.
• Compare and contrast the painting styles of
the three main Islamic dynasties of this time
period (16th – 18th centuries): Safavid,
Ottoman and Mughal. (you will be able to find
images of each on the Tumblr; choose one of
each). What similarities and differences do
you see? What do they tell us about each
culture?
