
Oliver White
Head of Department






Sold for £7,500 inc. premium
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The manuscript is illustrated with sixty-five small portraits of figures from daily life, accompanied by short poems about their earthly and spiritual characteristics. The work consists of four parts: kaide-i remz u cifr; rical-i hamzaviyye; suala cevab ('answers to the question'); and havadis-i Rum ('news from Anatolia'). The section on hamzaviyye concerns the sufi sect founded by Sheikh Hamza Bali. The manuscript is rare both in terms of its illustrations and the text itself. It belongs to a small group of Ottoman manuscripts illustrated with miniature portraits of individuals.