English: One of the richly illustrated manuscripts of the sixteenth century is the Zubdat-al Tawarikh in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in Istanbul, dedicated to Sultan Murad III in 1583. The manuscript contains forty miniatures of the finest quality reflecting the mature Ottoman court style of the latter part of the sixteenth century.

Celestial map, signs of the Zodiac and lunar mansions.

The art of Ottoman Turkish miniature painting reached its peak in the sixteenth century, especially during the reigns of Suleyman the Magnificent and Murad III, who were both great patrons of art responsible for the uninterrupted output of the imperial ateliers during this period. Most of the miniatures executed in the sixteenth century took their subjects from Ottoman history illustrating major political and social events of the time. Less attention was given to producing literary manuscripts. Illustrated religious texts which increased in number later in the century very often remained in a historical framework. That is, in some of the major books on world history, Ottoman sultans were linked genealogically with Koranic and Biblical prophets. The Zubdat-al Tawarikh is a book of that nature where the text is a summary of Biblical and political world history covering the creation of the world, stories of the prophets and prominent historical figures of the past, and largely Turkish history to the time of the reigning sultan Murad III, also including genealogical accounts of the first twelve Ottoman sultans. The author was Seyyid Loqman Ashuri, the prolific historiographer of the Ottoman court during the period of Murad III, who in his introduction explains how he compiled this world history from different sources.

Adam and Eve with their twin children.

In addition to the Zubdat al-Tawarikh in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Works, two other copies of Lokman's work exist in Topkap² Saray museum Library H. 1321, dated 1586, and Dublin, Chester Beatty Librar, no.414, dated 1573.

The manuscript is rather large in size (64,7x41,3 cm.) with ninety-one folios and forty miniatures, twenty-three of which illustrate the stories of the prophets, five are portraits of the caliphs and the founders of the Islamic rites and the last twelve are portraits of the first twelve Ottoman sultans.

The manuscript's miniatures are of great significance iconographical and stylistically leading to a deeper insight to Turkish religious art and portraiture. The large number of miniatures allotted to the stories of the prophets from the earliest

Noah's ark and the deluge

examples of Ottoman religious painting. Some of the images follow the traditional iconographical schemes of the earlier fourteenth and fifteenth century Islamic miniatures but most of them are new interpretations reflecting the Ottoman approach to religious subject matter. The directness and clarity with which the ottoman artist narrates his historical subjects seem to be repeated in these illustrations where the story of each prophet is summarised and represented in a convincingly realistic way marked by an accuracy of detail. The prophets are depicted generally in attire similar to the figures found in the historical miniatures of the period, namely a belted dress and a caftan with embroideries on the collar and the sleeves, and it is only their halos that mark their holy character. The prophets are shown sitting crossed legged or in a kneeling position. If the prophet is praying, his hands are raised in a gesture of prayer, if he is in the act of giving advice, his left hand is slightly raised. The Biblical kings wear similar garments but are crowned Non-muslims or infidels wear a plain garment and a simple cap.

Joseph with his father Jacob and brothers in Egypt

The first miniature in the Zubdat-al Tawarikh is a celestial map with the earth surrounded by seven heavens, signs of the Zodiac and the lunar mansions, symbolising the macrocosm