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Lot 134

Illuminated Ruzname (Almanac or Calendar), copied by al-‘Arif Hafiz Husain Hamdi,
Ottoman Turkey, probably Constantinople, early 19th Century

Islamic & Indian Art
29 April 2004, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street

£800 - £1,000

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Illuminated Ruzname (Almanac or Calendar), copied by al-‘Arif Hafiz Husain Hamdi,
Ottoman Turkey, probably Constantinople, early 19th Century

on vellum, in scroll form, on a wooden spindle, Ottoman Turkish and Arabic text and tables written horizontally and diagonally in naskhi script in black and red ink, interlinear and intercolumnar rules in gold, headings and significant words picked out in gold throughout, one illuminated headpiece in colours and gold, red morocco flap decorated with a gold crescent within a roundel on brown ground, edges of flap frayed otherwise in good condition
800 x 85 mm.

Footnotes

According to Francis Maddison, these calendars were produced in Ottoman Turkey from the 17th Century onwards, and varied in length but were usually of a small size suitable for the pocket. The almanacs were usually associated with Darendeli Mehmed Effendi, who created an almanac for Istanbul. They give tables of times of prayers for each month of the solar year; the length of the day and night; time of night fall, and the time when the sun is in the direction of Makkah. Compare with three Ruznames in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, see J.M. Rogers, Empire of the Sultans, London, 1996, pp. 118-120, nos. 70-72. Another Ruzname was sold in these rooms, Bonhams, Islamic and Indian Art, 1st May 2003, lot 72.

Additional information