Five leaves from a manuscript of prayers, Turkey, Ottoman, 16th century

gouache with gold on cream paper, 5 or 6 lines to the page written in fine naskh script within clouds against a gold ground, margins rules in gold and red, catchwords in black, laid down on card, sold with a leaf from a Persian manuscript, framed

Ex-collection Mr and Mrs Thomas Wolff, first half 20th century.

In generally good condition, each painting glued to a cardboard, visible sign of the glue on the margins, some flaking and small areas of losses, as viewed.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

These five paintings come from a manuscript of Ottoman prayers. The stylistic features of the figures combined with scenes' composition and the format of the pages suggest a date of production in the second half of the sixteenth century, finding close comparables in Ottoman pious manuscripts dated between 1580 and 1600. The illustrations are identified as follows:

1. Ibrahim is hidden in a tunnel by his father Azer. Very little is known about this episode in Ibrahim’s early life. In the Qisas al-Anbiya compiled by Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tha’labi, it is narrated that Azar excavates a tunnel to hide Abrahim from the agents of Nimrud (Renards, 2008, p.16).
2. Ibrahim  about to sacrifice his son Isma’il. Although the identity of the son of Ibrahim – if Isaac or Ishmael - was a topic of discussion in the various Qisas al-Anbiya’ manuscripts, the scene is usually portrayed with the son sitting or lying on the floor blindfolded and Gabriel approaching the scene to stop Ibrahim.
3. The Prophet Muhammad reveals to ‘Ali secrets of creation he was told during the mi’raj journey. A similar scene, from a Tarjuma-I Thawaqib-I manaqib dated 1590 is now in the Pierpoint Morgan Library, New York (Schmitz 1997, p.88, and Milstein 1990, ill.3).
4. Adam and Eve expelled from Paradise. Very few illustrations of Adam being expelled from Paradise were depicted before 1500 and it is only after the sixteenth century that this scene becomes frequent both in Iran and Turkey, mostly in Nishapuri’s Qisas al-Anbiya (Milstein 1990, pp.9-10 and ill.17).
5. Imam ‘Ali and his Council. A similar painting from Muhammad Ibn Suleyman's (known as Fazuli) Hadikat al-Su'ada ('Garden of the Blessed') was sold in these Rooms, 24 April 2014, lot 116.

An illustration from a manuscript of Persian poetry, possibly Divan of Zahir al-Din Faryabi, is offered with this set of five paintings.