Description:

AN ILLUMINATED LEAF FROM A MANUSCRIPT OF PRAYERS, TURKEY, OTTOMAN, 16TH CENTURY

Description:
A finely painted and richly illuminated folio from an Ottoman manuscript of prayers, executed in ink, gouache, and gold on cream paper. This leaf features five lines of naskh script, skillfully penned within delicate cloud bands against a lustrous gold ground. The marginal rulings are rendered in fine gold and red, with catchwords in black. The folio has been professionally laid down on card and is presented framed, accompanied by a Persian manuscript leaf.

The vibrant miniature below the text illustrates the rare and evocative scene of Adam and Eve's expulsion from Paradise, a theme not commonly depicted before the 16th century. Here, they are shown flanked by angelic figures, with divine flames encircling their bodies—a motif seen in Ottoman and Safavid visual traditions. Above them, an angel gestures from a celestial platform, possibly symbolising divine judgment or command. This depiction aligns closely with compositions found in illustrated versions of Qisas al-Anbiya, particularly those attributed to Nishapuri.


Length x Width: 36 x 28.5cm

Folio: 24.5 x 14.5cm

ink on paper

gouache with gold on cream paper, 5 or 6 lines to the page written in fine naskh script within clouds against a gold ground, margins rules in gold and red, catchwords in black, laid down on card, sold with a leaf from a Persian manuscript, framed

Literature

Ex-collection Mr and Mrs Thomas Wolff, first half 20th century.

This painting come from a manuscript of Ottoman prayers. The stylistic features of the figures combined with scenes' composition and the format of the pages suggest a date of production in the second half of the sixteenth century, finding close comparables in Ottoman pious manuscripts dated between 1580 and 1600. The illustrations are identified as follows:

Adam and Eve expelled from Paradise. Very few illustrations of Adam being expelled from Paradise were depicted before 1500 and it is only after the sixteenth century that this scene becomes frequent both in Iran and Turkey, mostly in Nishapuri’s Qisas al-Anbiya (Milstein 1990, pp.9-10 and ill.17).

 

Comparative Examples:

  • A folio from the Qisas al-Anbiya depicting Adam and Eve, Ottoman, c. 1580, sold at Christie’s, Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds, 28 October 2021, Lot 68, for £20,000.

  • A similar Ottoman manuscript leaf showing a prophetic scene fetched £16,250 at Sotheby’s, Arts of the Islamic World, 1 May 2019, Lot 142.

  • A rare 16th-century illustrated prayer book leaf with comparable gold-script layout sold at Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, 30 October 2018, Lot 54, for £11,875.

Note:
Ottoman manuscripts combining vivid figural miniatures with sacred text were highly sought after by imperial patrons and reflect the devotional intensity and narrative richness of 16th-century Islamic art. The inclusion of the Adam and Eve motif, with distinctive stylistic treatment and atmospheric landscape, reflects the increasing popularity of allegorical storytelling in Ottoman religious manuscripts post-1500, particularly through illustrated Qisas al-Anbiya cycles.

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May 6, 2025 1:00 PM BST
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