DOI Heft:
Nr. 339 (August 1925)
DOI Artikel:Streit, Clarence K.: Calligraphy of the moslems
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19985#0350
mceRHACionAL
toughra of mohammed iv from a decree dated 1669
republic of Ragusa, in Dalmatia, fearful of meet-
ing the fate of its neighbors, adopted the more
prudent course of negotiation and succeeded in
making, in 1365, the first treaty between a Chris-
tian state and a Turkish sultan. To sign this
document, Murad dipped his hand in ink and,
spreading his thumb and little finger sidewise
while holding his other three fingers close together,
pressed them on the paper.
Some say Murad used this method because he
could not write. The more recent Turkish his-
torians, however, maintain that he was simply
following an ancient custom his fathers had
brought with them from central Asia. They point
out that Jenghis Khan signed all his important
orders by dipping his hand in purple ink. Which
would indicate that the finger print is not the
infant we have considered it.
This scientific method, however, soon gave
way to art. Murad in his later communications
with Ragusa simply had his scribes copy as his
sign the peculiar print left by his hand, with his
name, Murad the son of Orkhan, written in the
palm. The calligraphers did their work so well
that ah the descendants of Murad adopted as
their seal the form of his hand, each of course
having his own name and that of his father
written under the lines representing the three
middle fingers. Selim the Terrible, after his great
conquests in the early sixteenth century,
added as an extra flourish the words mouzaffer
daima—"always victorious"—which his suc-
cessors all copied though few of them merited
the title.
In the Elizabethan period of Turkish art
which began in the reign of Selim's son,
Suleyman the Magnificent, this seal was
carried to its most artistic point. The inge-
nuity and fancy of the calligraphers trans-
formed the three lingers into minarets and
domes and flowering trees and filled the
open spaces with intertwining garlands of
vari-colored blossoms. The lines of the
toughra itself are in colors like enamel, some-
times deep blue, sometimes gold, sometimes
ruby. The whole design has a beauty which
to be appreciated must be seen, for a photo-
graph can hardly hint at the effect produced.
One of these toughras was painted at the
beginning of each firman or imperial decree
made by the sultan, and the same talent and
care was exercised on each of them no matter
how unimportant the subject matter of the
writ. When one calls himself by the titles
the sultans assumed, he loses no occasion to
prove his magnificence. To appreciate the
splendor aimed at in the toughra one needs to
know the grandiloquent formula with which the
writ that followed invariably began.
Then, if the decree were an ordinary one, the
sultan proceeded to give his orders. But if the
toughra introduced a matter of more importance,
the first fanfare of words was followed by some-
thing in this nature—to quote as an example part
ol the opening of a letter from Suleyman the Mag-
nificent to King Francois I:
SHAH SULTAN SULEYMAN K] IAN
The Son of Selim Khan—Always Victorious!
/, who am the Sultan of Sultans, the King oj Kings, the
Distributor of Crowns to the Princes of the World, the Shadow
0} Cod on Earth, the Emperor and the Sovereign Lord of the
White Sea and the Black Sea, of the countries of the Romans
and oj the Land oj the Rising Sun, and of Caramanid,
Armenia, Zulkadrue, Diarbekir and Kurdistan, and oj the
Empires of the Medes and the Persians and the Assyrians
and the Egyptians, and oj the Holy Cities of Mecca and
Medina and Jerusalem, and oj all the provinces oj Arabia
and Yemen, and oj many other provinces which have been
conquered by the victorious power oj my glorious predecessors
and my august ancestors (May God surround with a halo oj
light this manijestation oj their Faith!), as well as oj the
numerous countries which have submitted to the flamboyant
scimitar and the triumphant sword oj my own Glorious
Majesty: I, the son of Sultan Selim, the son oj Sultan
Bayezid, SHAH SULTAN SULEYMAN KHAN
To Thee, Francois,
Who art Prince oj the Country oj France!
three jijty
AUGUST 1925
toughra of mohammed iv from a decree dated 1669
republic of Ragusa, in Dalmatia, fearful of meet-
ing the fate of its neighbors, adopted the more
prudent course of negotiation and succeeded in
making, in 1365, the first treaty between a Chris-
tian state and a Turkish sultan. To sign this
document, Murad dipped his hand in ink and,
spreading his thumb and little finger sidewise
while holding his other three fingers close together,
pressed them on the paper.
Some say Murad used this method because he
could not write. The more recent Turkish his-
torians, however, maintain that he was simply
following an ancient custom his fathers had
brought with them from central Asia. They point
out that Jenghis Khan signed all his important
orders by dipping his hand in purple ink. Which
would indicate that the finger print is not the
infant we have considered it.
This scientific method, however, soon gave
way to art. Murad in his later communications
with Ragusa simply had his scribes copy as his
sign the peculiar print left by his hand, with his
name, Murad the son of Orkhan, written in the
palm. The calligraphers did their work so well
that ah the descendants of Murad adopted as
their seal the form of his hand, each of course
having his own name and that of his father
written under the lines representing the three
middle fingers. Selim the Terrible, after his great
conquests in the early sixteenth century,
added as an extra flourish the words mouzaffer
daima—"always victorious"—which his suc-
cessors all copied though few of them merited
the title.
In the Elizabethan period of Turkish art
which began in the reign of Selim's son,
Suleyman the Magnificent, this seal was
carried to its most artistic point. The inge-
nuity and fancy of the calligraphers trans-
formed the three lingers into minarets and
domes and flowering trees and filled the
open spaces with intertwining garlands of
vari-colored blossoms. The lines of the
toughra itself are in colors like enamel, some-
times deep blue, sometimes gold, sometimes
ruby. The whole design has a beauty which
to be appreciated must be seen, for a photo-
graph can hardly hint at the effect produced.
One of these toughras was painted at the
beginning of each firman or imperial decree
made by the sultan, and the same talent and
care was exercised on each of them no matter
how unimportant the subject matter of the
writ. When one calls himself by the titles
the sultans assumed, he loses no occasion to
prove his magnificence. To appreciate the
splendor aimed at in the toughra one needs to
know the grandiloquent formula with which the
writ that followed invariably began.
Then, if the decree were an ordinary one, the
sultan proceeded to give his orders. But if the
toughra introduced a matter of more importance,
the first fanfare of words was followed by some-
thing in this nature—to quote as an example part
ol the opening of a letter from Suleyman the Mag-
nificent to King Francois I:
SHAH SULTAN SULEYMAN K] IAN
The Son of Selim Khan—Always Victorious!
/, who am the Sultan of Sultans, the King oj Kings, the
Distributor of Crowns to the Princes of the World, the Shadow
0} Cod on Earth, the Emperor and the Sovereign Lord of the
White Sea and the Black Sea, of the countries of the Romans
and oj the Land oj the Rising Sun, and of Caramanid,
Armenia, Zulkadrue, Diarbekir and Kurdistan, and oj the
Empires of the Medes and the Persians and the Assyrians
and the Egyptians, and oj the Holy Cities of Mecca and
Medina and Jerusalem, and oj all the provinces oj Arabia
and Yemen, and oj many other provinces which have been
conquered by the victorious power oj my glorious predecessors
and my august ancestors (May God surround with a halo oj
light this manijestation oj their Faith!), as well as oj the
numerous countries which have submitted to the flamboyant
scimitar and the triumphant sword oj my own Glorious
Majesty: I, the son of Sultan Selim, the son oj Sultan
Bayezid, SHAH SULTAN SULEYMAN KHAN
To Thee, Francois,
Who art Prince oj the Country oj France!
three jijty
AUGUST 1925