The Cream of Histories (Zubdat al-tawarikh) by Sayyid Luqman-i 'Ashuri - Chester Beatty Online Collections

Object Information

Manuscript

Object no:: T 414

Title:: The Cream of Histories (Zubdat al-tawarikh) by Sayyid Luqman-i 'Ashuri

Artist and production place:: Sun'i
Istanbul

Production date:: 1585-1590

Dimensions:: 405 mm x 277 mm x 53 mm (height x length x depth)

Material:: Paper (material) Leather (material) Pigment (material) Ink (material) Gold

Language:: Turkish (language)

Script type:: Naskh script

Collection:: Turkish collection

Document type:: Manuscript

Object name:: Codex

Description:: The Cream of Histories (Zubdat al-tawarikh) by Luqman-i 'Ashuri. Codex, leather binding, 242 paper folios, Turkish text with 31 paintings and two maps, Istanbul, Turkey, c. 1585-1590. A further twelve folios are detached, and also in the collection. Composed by Ottoman court historian Sayyid Luqman-i `Ashuri, this is an extensive survey of Islamic history, compiled from many earlier sources. According to the preface, Luqman commissioned the painter Sun'i to illustrate his text, and presented the finished work to Habeshi Mehmed Agha (d.1590), head of the Topkapi palace eunuchs. The text begins by reviewing the cosmos, describing heaven, hell and the regions of the earth, before presenting a survey of Islam's prophets from Adam to the Prophet Muhammad, and then of subsequent dynasties of rulers up to the Ottomans themselves, concluding with Murad III (d.1595).

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