Iranian envoy bringing diplomatic gifts, from the History of Sultan Süleyman by Sayyid Luqman

Manuscript
Object no: T 413.14
Title: Iranian envoy bringing diplomatic gifts, from the History of Sultan Süleyman by Sayyid Luqman
Calligrapher and production place: Qāsim al-Ḥusaynī al-`Arīdī al-Qazvīnī, Istanbul
Production date: 1579 (987H)
Dimensions: 384 mm x 264 mm (height x width)
Material: Paper (material) Pigment (material) Ink (material) Gold
Language: Persian (language)
Script type: Nasta'liq script
Collection: Turkish collection
Document type: Manuscript
Object name: Folio / Bi-Folio (Codex)

Description: Iranian envoy bringing diplomatic gifts, from the History of Sultan Süleyman by Sayyid Luqman. Diplomatic relations between the Ottoman empire and Safavid Iran were carefully negotiated with treaty agreements, but periodically also led to military conflict. Here an envoy wearing the Safavid taj turban bows to Sultan Süleyman, flanked very closely by two Ottoman officials. Rows of Ottoman janissaries bring hunting birds, possibly part of a diplomatic gift. Three other Safavid officials stand on the lower left, also under close supervision. The Ottoman court historian (sahnameci) Sayyid Luqman composed this versified account of Süleyman the Magnificent's last seven years of life, describing events in the capital Istanbul, the sultan's military campaigns in the Balkans, Austria, Hungary, on Malta, and on Chios, and concluding with the sultan's death and funeral in 1566. Luqman was continuing the Ottoman dynastic chronicles established by his two immediate predecessors: Eflatun and before him the renowned court historian `Arif. `Arif composed the multi-volume Shahnama-yi Al-i Osman (Book of Kings of the House of Osman): Luqman’s work (CBL T 413) carefully follows this work’s form in language and general layout. `Arif also worked on two other important accounts of the Ottoman sultan: Mujmal al-Tumar (imperial scroll, 1584) and Hüner-nama (begun 1577), which were completed by his two court successors. Detached folio, ink, pigments and gold on paper, Persian verses with full-page painting (on verso), from the History of Sultan Süleyman by Sayyid Luqman, account of the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent in the years 1559-1566, commissioned for Ottoman Sultan Murad III, Istanbul, Turkey, 1579.