Finely Illuminated Ottoman Firman with the Tughra of Sultan Abdulmecid (r. 1839-1861) SOLD

Project Details

Finely Illuminated Ottoman Firman with the Tughra of Sultan Abdulmecid (r. 1839-1861) SOLD

Ottoman Empire

Dated: 1256 AH / 1839 AD

Dimensions: 123 x 78 cm.

Tughra in gold, illuminated with gold stylized leaves, decorated with roses and flower heads, two crescent and stars on both sides of the tughra, upper left, top and right borders decorated with intertwined blossoms. The illumination is original and was executed in the court workshops.

This firman of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmecid (r. 1839-1861) is written in twelve lines of sharp and well-proportioned dīvānī script. It is addressed to grand-vizier Said Pasha who was on duty in Yanya, ‘Ioannina’ in modern Greece. The sultan commands Said Pasha to investigate the state’s properties in the region, including fields in the Sulos village and the Hulkaris Farm (Hulkaris Ciftligi).

The firman draws Said Pasha’s attention to the fields owned by a certain Panayot, which were surrounded by the fields belonging to the state. It also appoints Mustafa Nuri Pasha and Ibrahim Saib Pasha to make sure that the state fields are not trespassed by Panayot. They are asked to report the current situation back to the palace straight away.

The tughra in gold reads “Khān Abdulmecīd bin Mahmūd al-Muzaffar Dāimān” (Abdulmecid Khan, son of Mahmud, the always victorious). The expression following the titulature, “the always victorious”, is identical to the “semper victor” used by Roman emperors.

A comparable firman of Sultan Abdulmecid with similar illumination, in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, Istanbul, is published in the exhibition catalogue Imperial Ottoman Firmans, (ed. Aysegül Nadir), [exhibition held at the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art between 19 September 1986 – 18 January 1987], 1986, p. 150.

Categories: Calligraphy & Miniatures

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Finely Illuminated Ottoman Firman with the Tughra of Sultan Abdulmecid (r. 1839-1861) SOLD

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