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    Book Felicity Preview

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    Emanuele Ciampi
    The document describes an illuminated manuscript from 1582 called "The Book of Felicity". It was commissioned by Ottoman Sultan Murad III and contains 71 lavishly illustrated pages with miniatures. The manuscript includes treatises on astrology, oneiromancy, and popular beliefs featuring illustrations of exotic people, places, animals, and monsters. It was created under the guidance of the famous master Osman and his workshop in Constantinople, and presented by the Sultan to his daughter.

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    Book Felicity Preview

    Uploaded by

    Emanuele Ciampi
    302 views0 pages
    The document describes an illuminated manuscript from 1582 called "The Book of Felicity". It was commissioned by Ottoman Sultan Murad III and contains 71 lavishly illustrated pages with miniatures. The manuscript includes treatises on astrology, oneiromancy, and popular beliefs featuring illustrations of exotic people, places, animals, and monsters. It was created under the guidance of the famous master Osman and his workshop in Constantinople, and presented by the Sultan to his daughter.

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    Astrology

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    The document describes an illuminated manuscript from 1582 called "The Book of Felicity". It was commissioned by Ottoman Sultan Murad III and contains 71 lavishly illustrated pages with miniatures. The manuscript includes treatises on astrology, oneiromancy, and popular beliefs featuring illustrations of exotic people, places, animals, and monsters. It was created under the guidance of the famous master Osman and his workshop in Constantinople, and presented by the Sultan to his daughter.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    302 views0 pages

    Book Felicity Preview

    Uploaded by

    Emanuele Ciampi
    The document describes an illuminated manuscript from 1582 called "The Book of Felicity". It was commissioned by Ottoman Sultan Murad III and contains 71 lavishly illustrated pages with miniatures. The manuscript includes treatises on astrology, oneiromancy, and popular beliefs featuring illustrations of exotic people, places, animals, and monsters. It was created under the guidance of the famous master Osman and his workshop in Constantinople, and presented by the Sultan to his daughter.

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    TRAVESERA DE GRACIA, 17-21

    08021 BARCELONA - SPAIN


    TEL. (+34) 932 402 091
    FAX (+34) 932 015 062
    www.moleiro.com
    www.moleiro.com/online
    The Book of Felicity
    (Matali al-saadet)
    The Book of Felicity
    (Matali al-saadet)
    Bibliothque nationale de France
    First, unique and unrepeatable edition, strictly limited to 987 copies
    Shelf mark: Suppl. turc 242.
    Date: 1582.
    Size: 310 x 210 mm.
    286 pages and 71 full-page
    miniatures lavishly embellished with
    gold.
    Turkish binding in red leather with
    gold decoration.
    Full-colour commentary volume.
    In the latter half of the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire was the largest
    and most powerful in the world. Its domains, stretching from Budapest to
    Baghdad, from Oman and Tunis to Mecca and Medina near the Red Sea,
    encompassed cities as great as Damascus, Alexandria and Cairo. The Turks
    were at the gates of Vienna and controlled the Silk Route, the Black Sea
    and the eastern half of the Mediterranean. The sultan governed the empire
    from Constantinople, where architects, painters, calligraphers, jewellers,
    ceramists, poets, etc, were at his service with his court and harem. The 16th
    and early 17th centuries were the most fertile period of Turkish-Ottoman
    painting, with the reign of Murad III (1574-1595) being particularly prolific
    in beautiful works of art, such as this work by Muhammad ibn Amir Hasan
    al-Suudi.
    The Book of Felicity was ordered to be translated from the original Arabic
    by the sultan himself his portrait appears on folio 8v. It features different
    treatises illustrated with splendid illuminations: the Book of Nativities, con-
    taining predictions for those born under each of the twelve signs of the
    zodiac and a series of splendid miniatures; a short treatise on lunar man-
    sions and their influence; a text about the portents based on the parts of
    the body affected by spasms; a series of tables for interpreting dreams cor-
    rectly; an enigmatic treatise on fortune-telling still applicable today, etc.
    The oriental world unfolds before our very eyes in each miniature: myste-
    rious characters in peculiar poses, exotic, brightly coloured garments, lux-
    urious mansions and sumptuous palaces, muezzins in the minarets of
    mosques calling the faithful to prayer, elegant horse-
    men riding their stylised horses with lavishly embel-
    lished trappings. Some of this fantastic imagery is
    inspired directly by traditional tales, such as the
    Thousand and One Nights. Also, countless exotic ani-
    mals fill the pages of this manuscript: exuberant pea-
    cocks, extraordinary sea serpents, giant fish, eagles
    and other birds of prey, swallows, storks and other
    birds drawn in an elegant, stylised manner. There is
    also an entire illustrated chapter on the monsters
    appearing in popular belief: the underground world
    of the jinns, a population of half-men and half-ani-
    mals that are as numerous as the human beings; like
    men they can have a good or a bad behaviour, and
    will be judged by God at the end of times. They are
    not visible to men but they can appear under differ-
    ent forms. They were created by God from fire with-
    out smoke unlike men and angels who were made
    out of clay and light.
    All the paintings seem to be by the same workshop
    under the guidance of the famous master Ustad
    Osman, undoubtedly the artist of the opening series
    of paintings dedicated to the signs of the zodiac.
    Osman, active between around 1559 and 1596,
    directed the artists in the Seraglio workshop from
    1570 onwards and created a style, adopted by other
    painters at the court, characterised by accurate por-
    traits and a magnificent treatment of illustration.
    Sultan Murad III was completely absorbed by the
    intense political, cultural and sentimental life of the
    harem. He had 103 children, only 47 of whom out-
    lived him. Nevertheless, Murad III, who held illumi-
    nated manuscripts in greater esteem than any other
    sultan, commissioned this treatise of felicity especial-
    ly for his daughter Fatima.
    www.moleiro.com
    www.moleiro.com
    More information:
    Tel. (+34) 932 402 091 - Fax (+34) 932 015 062
    www.moleiro.com/online
    F. 7v
    www.moleiro.com
    F. 14v
    www.moleiro.com/online
    F. 33r
    Tel. (+34) 932 402 091
    F. 24v
    Fax (+34) 932 015 062
    F. 79r
    UK +44 (0) 20 7193 4986
    F. 75v
    USA +1 (305) 831 4986
    F. 36r
    www.moleiro.com
    F. 74v
    www.moleiro.com/prensa
    F. 35r
    Tel. (+34) 932 402 091
    F. 85v
    Fax (+34) 932 015 062
    F. 87v
    UK +44 (0) 20 7193 4986
    F. 88v
    USA +1 (305) 831 4986

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