A Celebration from Nusretname

 

 

 



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The Oldest Turkish Illustrated Documents

Turks had the tradition to illustrate manuscripts during the cultural periods before Islamic belief. Paper that could be rolled started to be made in China with plant fibers in 105 B.C. No written or illustrated document has yet been found from the time of the Chinese Han dynasty, of Huns and Göktďrks.Nevertheless, the large quantities of stone engravings, textiles,ceramics, works of art made of metal, wood, leather which have survived to the present day, prove that the above mentioned cultural circles were quite developed in other fields of art. The oldest examples of Turkish pictures for walls are from the 6th, 7th and 8th centuries. The withering influence of natural conditions have prevented the survival of these first examples.

The oldest illustrated documents on paper among Turkish tribes, are from the period succeeding Akhuns. These documents dating from 717-719 are in Turkish, Chinese and Arabic and they belong to a Turkish emir who battled with Moslem armies in Pencikent near Samarkand. This prince was taken prisoner, and his palace was ruined 722. The wall drawing are the most important part of Turkish cultural treasures. Von le Coq who has researched Central Asian Turkish culture writes this: "Turks have scattered all of their written cultural products in the dusty roads of steppes and deserts while migrating to the west." Prophet Mohammed tranquilizes the dragon on the way of the caravan, "Siyer-I Nebi" end of the 16th century. Samarkand was renowned during 6th-8th centuries by its drawing workshops where illustrations on wood, plaster and leather were made. These works influenced greatly the Anatolian Seljuk period. The most important development of the 9th century Uygur Turks in the art of painting, was accomplished by the painters and their school in the town of Kizilkent. Their sense of light in pictures and their search for the influence and impression of shadow and light, served largely for the formation of Seljuk miniature school and canalized it. The Tun-Huang monastery and library of Uygur Turks has a special importance. Among thousands of books in the library there are the oldest Turkish gilded and miniature manuscripts. The oldest wooden print and illustrated book in the world belongs to Uygurs and is in the above library. The date of the book is 868. Another important aspect of this find is that some manuscripts have been written in letters same with the ones on the Göktďrk Orhun epitaphs.

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