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| Levni and the Surname: By Esin Atil Price Post-free to Cornucopia subscribers | | From the Cover: Levni's pictorial narrative of the Surname-i Vehbi, poet Vehbi's account of the festival organized in 1720 to commemorate the circumcision of four sons of Sultan Ahmet III, is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of Ottoman art and possibly the last great example of illustrated Islamic manuscript. Preserved in the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul, the work is illustrated with 137 paintings that re-create the personages, settings, and events of an extraordinarily lively and enchanting age known as the Tulip period. to the first quarter of the eighteenth century, is renowned for its pleasure-loving social life and vibrant cultural activities with the court and the population of Istanbul enjoying endless nights in the waterside pavilions lining the shores of the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, entertained by poets, musicians, and dancers. Above all it was a period of technical innovation and modernization as well as one of cultural revitalization that came to be known as the second classical age of Ottoman art and culture. Levni's Surname not only records the history of this period but is also a part of that history. Printed in colour plus silver and silver, the first half of this sumptuous facsimile edition contains scholarly chapters on the historical and cultural settings of the age, Ottoman tradition of festivals and festival books, and analysis of the artist's methodology in representing the 1720 festival. The second half of the volume with the illustrations is presented in the format of the original manuscript, that is, an Islamic codex which reads from back to front enabling the reader to follow Levni's unique conceptualization of the pictorial narrative. The author, Dr. Esin Atil, is a foremost authority on Islamic and Turkish arts who has organized many art exhibitions, written more than twenty books, and published numerous articles on diverse artistic traditions of the Islamic world. After serving as the Curator of Islamic Art at the Smithsonian Institution's prestigious Freer Gallery of Art for over twenty-five years, she continues to pursue her scholarly activities by concentrating on publications, lectures, and consulting work on museum. |
