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ERKMEN, Aslıhan
The Tazkira Literature in the Ottomans and the Unique Illustrated Ottoman Tazkiras
This paper will give a brief history of the Ottoman tazkira literature and present two illustrated tazkiras, displaying
both the verbal and visual traditions of the empire through the course of the political and social environment in the
late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The tazkira genre will be discussed in terms of its valuable contribution to the
Ottoman historiography and the illustrated manuscripts in question will reveal the paradigm shift in Ottoman painting.
The general scope of the paper deals with two major texts and their unique illustrated copies: Âşık Çelebi’s (d.
1571-72) Meşâ’irü’ş-şu’arâ (İMK AE Tarih 772) and Taşköprîzâde’s (d. 1560-61) Tercüme-i Şakâ’ikû’n-nû’mânîye (TSMK H.
1263). Undated Meşâ’irü’ş-şu’arâ has eighty-eight portraits which seem to follow the style of the court painters. Tercüme-i
Şakâ’ikû’n-nû’mânîye was completed during the reign of Osman II (r. 1618-1622) and has forty-nine paintings where the
painter of this manuscript is known as Nakşî Bey.
Although many studies were conducted on such works in terms of historical, literary and art historical context,
the concept of illustrated texts enables the social scientists approach them from a holistic aspect considering their verbal
and visual value. This paper will present the differences of these two works in a comparative manner, discussing their importance
both for the history of art and literature while the visual image of the Ottoman world of culture is displayed.
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