Illustrated Pages of Siyar-i Nabi (Accounts of the Life of the Prophet)

1594-1595
Mustafa ibn Vali (calligrapher)
Mustafa Darir (author)
Lutfi 'Abdullah (painter)

The six-volume manuscript Siyar-i Nabi or "Accounts of the Life of the Prophet" was produced by the calligrapher Mustafa ibn Vali for the twelfth Ottoman sultan Murad III (r. 1574–95) to instruct his sons. Murad III had a great collection of manuscripts, the most important of which were the Siyar-i Nabi and the Surname-i Hümayun produced in the naqqashkhane or imperial workshop, this work comprised 814 miniatures. Drawing on both Quranic sources and the popular oral tradition, this epic account of the life of the Prophet Muhammad was composed in Cairo in the second half of the 14th century. The sobriety and legibility of the compositions, the economy of detail, the compact rendering of the groups of figures and the flat planes of contrasting colour are all characteristic of the Ottoman style.