"MEVLID" BY SULEYMAN ÇELEBI (1351–1422), KNOWN AS SULEYMAN O - Lot 88

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Lot n° 88
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"MEVLID" BY SULEYMAN ÇELEBI (1351–1422), KNOWN AS SULEYMAN O - Lot 88
"MEVLID" BY SULEYMAN ÇELEBI (1351–1422), KNOWN AS SULEYMAN OF BURSA: KITAB MAWLUD MOHAMMED (BOOK OF THE BIRTH OF THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD), MANUSCRIPT IN OTTOMAN TURKISH, PIGMENTS, GOLD, AND INK ON WESTERN PAPER WITH WATERMARK, TURKEY, OTTOMAN ART, LATE 18TH–EARLY 19TH CENTURY. Manuscript of 43 folios, including one blank folio, on Western watermarked paper (star-shaped mark), written in 11 lines per page in Naskh script with black ink, arranged in two columns within a border drawn in red ink. The frontispiece is adorned with a cartouche illuminated in gold on a blue background; the chapter titles are calligraphied in red within cartouches whose backgrounds are dotted with gilded foliage. The first cartouche bears the title of the work: هذا كتاب مولود محمد عليه الصلوة والسلام “This is the book of the birth of Muhammad, upon him be prayer and peace.” The text is a “mesnevi” poem, ending with two triangular registers illuminated in gold on a blue background—like the opening page—and a final illustration signed by “Mehmet Reza,” depicting the Prophet surrounded by a halo of flame, his face veiled, praying toward the Kaaba while seated on his heels. The later binding is made of cotton printed and painted with geometric motifs; the edges are covered with brown leather strips adorned with gold fillets. Several impressions of a seal bearing the name “Hadi ibn al-Faqir (?)”. Dimensions: 21.5 x 17 cm. ; Written area: 16.5 x 11.2 cm. We thank Mr. Armen Tokatlian for helping us identify the subject of this manuscript. Provenance: Collection of a private collector, acquired from an antiquities dealer about twenty years ago. This work celebrates the glory of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (mawlid al-nabi) through the creation of the universe. It is often used in popular worship during joyful or sorrowful events in the lives of Turkish believers. Suleyman Çelebi came from a family of scholars. He was the protégé of Sultan Bayazid I and later of his successor, Mehmed I. He was appointed imam of the imperial palace and the mosque in Bursa. Suleyman owes his fame to the success of his poem written in Turkish, *Vesîletü'n-Necât*, more commonly known as the *Mevlid-i Şerif*. This religious poem, which celebrates the birth and life of the Prophet Muhammad, is still recited today during religious ceremonies and family events in Turkey. Copies of Suleyman Çelebi’s “Mevlid” are preserved in Turkey and at several American institutions. The oldest known copy is located at the University of Michigan in the United States (Isl. Ms. 412), discovered very recently, in 2022, by Turkish researchers: Professors M. Fatih Köksal and Rıfat Kütük. This text is believed to date from the very early 15th century (around 1410–1415), a period when Süleyman Çelebi was likely still alive. It was this copy that revealed the work’s original and complete title: *Kitâbu Vesîleti’n-necât fî Mevlidi Eşrefi’l-mevcûdât*. The same collection also contains a 17th/18th-century copy (Isl. Ms. 406). The manuscript we present here features an illustration of the Prophet prostrating himself before Mecca; an illustration strongly inspired by the one found in the *Syier-e-Nebi* (“Life of the Prophet”), painted in Istanbul in 1595 during the reign of Murad III (1574–1595): Topkapı Palace Museum, Istanbul (Hazine 1222, folio 151b), depicting the Prophet Muhammad at the Kaaba. Bibliography: Marion Holmes Katz, *The Birth of the Prophet Muhammad: Devotional Piety in Sunni Islam*, London–New York, 2007.
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