An Illustrated Turkish Copy of Niẓāmī’s Khamsa in the Nuri Arlasez Collection of the Süleymaniye Library

Abstract

This study examines an illustrated Turkish copy of Niẓāmī’s Khamsa, recorded under the title “İskendernâme Tercümesi (Translation of the Book of Alexander)” with the number 38 in the Nuri Arlasez Collection of the Süleymaniye Library. The Khamsa of Niẓāmī of Ganja, composed in the twefth century and consisting of Makhzan al-Asrār, Khusraw u Shīrīn, Laylā u Majnūn, Haft Paykar, and Iskandarnāme, holds a significant place not only in Islamic and Turkish literature but also in Ottoman visual culture. The manuscript under study includes three of the five masnavis-excluding Makhzan al-Asrār and Laylā u Majnūn- and is decorated with a total of twenty-five paintings. The study first addresses the codicological features and the illumination program of the manuscript, and subsequently evaluates the stories in the Khamsa within the framework of the text–image relationship. The scenes chosen for illustration from the Iskandarnāme, Khusraw u Shīrīn, and Haft Paykar sections visualize themes of the powerful ruler image, love and loyalty, as well as didactic narratives. Although undated, the miniatures of this manuscript bear striking stylistic similarities to the depictions in the Hamse-i ʿAtāʾī (Topkapı Palace Library, R. 846), the Surnāme-i Vehbī (Topkapı Palace Library, A. 3594), and another copy of the Hamse-i ʿAtāʾī preserved at the Free Library of Philadelphia (O. 97). The close stylistic affinity between the miniatures of Niẓāmī’s Khamsa and those of these manuscripts suggests that this book was likewise produced in the first half of the 18th century, either by the court painter Nakḳāş İbrāhīm or by an artist working in his style at the Ottoman imperial atelier. In line with the parallels established with the Hamse-i ʿAtāʾī (R. 846), the Surnāme-i Vehbī (A. 3594), and the Hamse-i ʿAtāʾī at the Free Library of Philadelphia, it is further considered that this manuscript may have been produced within the circle of Grand Vizier Nevşehirli Damad İbrahim Pasha. In this respect, the work constitutes an important example with regard to the book culture of the Ottoman elite, their intellectual milieus, and the continuity of the illustrated manuscript tradition.