[Two Ottoman Divanlar]

This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Or 14089
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1195
  • Language of Material
    • Turkish
  • Physical Description
    • 2 texts 111 ff. Material : Good brownish-white laid paper; orange-brown endpapers sprinkled with silver (oxidized). Foliation : European, 111 ff. Dimensions : 235 mm x 130 mm. Ruling : Text frames and divisions and columns in gold, as well as frames in black, yellow and red; text block measures 160 mm x 73 mm; 17 lines with catchwords. Script : Calligraphic talik. Ink : Main text in black with headings in red. Binding : Fine brown morocco with elaborate gilt medallions and borders, Edirne style; doublures are black with gold-sprinkled gilt central medallions that have not been impressed. The work was rebound at a later date.

Scope and Content

This volume contains the two finely copied Ottoman Turkish Divanlar :. (I) ff 1v-60r : Divan-i Şerif, the collected poetry of Şeyh-ül-İslam Şerih Mehmet İbn-i Es'at Mehmet Ebu İshakzade, who was born likely in either 1130 AH (171-18 CE) or 1136 AH (1723-24 CE) and died in 1204 AH (1789-90 CE). Şerif was the father of the poet Fıtnat, whose Divan is found below. The Divan is divided into two part, the first of which (ff 1v-15v) contains mainly tevarih and rubaiyat, while the second (ff 12v-60r) is composed primarily of gazeller and matali;. (II) ff 61v-111r : Divan-i Fıtnat, the collected poetry of the celebrated poet Zübeyde Hanım, whose mahlas was Fıtnat(died 1194 AH/1780 CE). The Divan is divided into two parts. The first comprises mainly rubaiyat and tevarih (ff 61v-90r), and the second is made up of gazeller, tahmisat, müseddesat, kıt'alar and elğaz (ff 91v-111r). The text contains four superbly illuminated unvanlar on ff 1v, 16v, 61v, and 105v. There are also seven smaller bands of illumination with floral motifs on ff 54r, 54v, 55v, 56r, 65v, and 105v. Twelve pages contain (primarily full page) arabesque and floral designs drawn in gold. In the colophon, we learn that the manuscript was copied, presumably for an important person, by the calligrapher, poet, librarian and Sufi Mehmet Nazif (died 1201 AH/1786-87 CE). It is dated 1195 AH (1781 CE), the year after Fıtnat's death.

Access Information

Not Public Record(s)

Unrestricted

Acquisition Information

Purchased by the British Library from E. J. Brill of Leiden in February 1982.

Related Material

Another copy of text I can be found at Or 7205 text I. For the author of the first text's collection of biographies on Ottoman musicians, entitled Atrabu'l-asar fi tezkiret urefa il-edvar, see Or 14269. Other copies of the Divan-i Fıtnat can be found at Or 7205 text II, Or 7369, and Or 12139. For more information about Şerif Mehmet İbn-i Es'at Mehmet Enu İshakzade, see SO III, pp. 142-43; Fatın, pp. 214-15; TSKTYK II, p. 213; HOP IV, p. 151. For more information about Fıtnat Hanım, see Fatın, pp. 330-31; SO IV, pp. 24-25; OM III, pp. 368-70İ; İA IV, pp. 626-27; HOP IV, pp. 150-59; TSKTYK II, p. 209.