“*16th century Page editing of the Ottoman Koran ”

NUR TAVİLOGLU

Abstract Of Title

113 - 7. İNGİLİZCE ÖZET Reproductions of the Koran have a special place in Islamic art. For centuries, influenced by various art forms, they have been prepared with great care in Islamic countries. In the XVIth century, the Ottoman style was classical. The Koranic scripts, illuminations and page designs had also reached this higher artistic level. My research aims at exploring the units and proportions used in the classical style in page design and in margins, scripts and illuminations. I have studied the Korans in the rich collections of the Istanbul University Library, and in the libraries of the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art and Topkapi Palace. I have also gone through the works on the subject that could provide any further clarification. The Korans from this period have page designs with illuminated areas that are geometric, in which the forms have straight and parallel borders with illumination and script inside. The harmony of the dimensions and proportions in page design create the aesthetic beauty in the relationship between the script and the illumination. My detailed study of the 38 Korans and its dimensions shows that page design was based on units and proportions. However, the same unit was not always used. This is a characteristic of book design in this period. The Koran Designs matched the then dominant classical style in Ottoman art, combining harmony and richness. There were also several methods applied in achieving the beauty in composition. The arrangements indicate the multiple use of a unit of measurement. Hence, the harmony between the whole and its parts. It would be interesting to do similar research in other fields of art. They might reveal the methods for further refinement worked out and applied in the court studios. For it was there that the various styles of Ottoman art, which spread over and influenced three continents, emerged. Leading artists were invited to and worked in these studios. They had everything at their disposal for innovation.- 114 - Such studies could also teli us more about the hidden tools of Ottoman art in achieving its distinctive features and disclose the secrets of its stylistic unity. Above ali, it vvould be most interesting to find out more about the contribution of "Nakkaşhane" to the development and transformation of the "Ottoman Style". The relationships in question range from single floral motifs to small illuminations, from a group of illuminations to miniatures, porcelain, pottery, metals, embroidery and carpets as well as calligraphy, ornamental compositions and architecture. in the Ottoman Korans of the early XVIth century, there is more than öne frontispiece and they are also used at the end. The frontispiece does not include an introduction, but it has illuminated frames covering the vvhole page. By the middle of the century, the use of double frontispiece had stopped and "falname" and "hatim duası" had been added at the end. in the Koran, the text in the pages including its first two verses (Fatiha and Bakara Suras) is inside central rectangles. The main design has three horizontal divisions, vvhereas the three divisions in the text section are perpendicular. in the colophon pages, the script is usually in a rectangle which tapers downwards. The margins are sometimes illuminated. Gold, silver and colours obtained from other precious dyes are used in illuminations, vvhere the naturalistic floral figures that emerged in mid XVIth century were also used. in the pages of the XVIth century Ottoman Korans, there are unparalelled examples of proportion, balance, and extremely fine brushvvork. The use of symmetry is strong. The pages have the same layout, in vvhich the symmetry of both a single page and double page is considered. l decided to limit my research to the study of the XVIth century, vvhich follovved a century during vvhich many valuable books were produced and, under various influenceş, new concepts in art were searched for. l studied the classical vvorks of the great masters of the period that are in the vvell-stocked libraries of istanbul. The results of my research are presented in the follovving pages.

Information Of Title

Lnaguage: Turkish - Type: Thesis - Number of pages: 356 - Date: 1994 - Country: TR