In Istanbul
at the end of the sixteenth century, the savant Al=Hooudi, acting on the
order of
Sultan Murad III, prepared a work on astrology of which the subject matter
is
sufficiently indicated by the title, The Rising of the Stars of Felicity, and
the Sources
of
Sovereignty. The same year it was written, 1582, the book was copied for
Sultana
Fatima,
daughter of the Padishah of Istanbul, Shadow of Allah on the World. The
calligraphist and illuminator was a certain Osman, whose historical work, “The
Garland of Chronicles”, is still read.
This
manuscript contains a magnificent set of the twelve signs of the Zodiac, from
which is taken the reproduction of Aquarius, an old man drawing water from a
well.
In order to
increase the charm of his work, Osman added some pictures inspired by the book,
The Wonders of Creation, a sort of scientific encyclopaedia, which had a great
vogue in the Orient. From this are taken the curious pictures of monkeys and
that of the phoenix, the legendary bird capable of living in fire. After these
come various angels and demons. The red angel rides a lion while holding a
saber in one hand and a head in the other. Another angel, accompanied by two
demons, seizes a Christian by his nether limbs.
After the
decline of Murad,s power, the manuscript was removed to Egypt, where the
French Army
came across it during the Revolutionary period. On the flyleaf is an annotation
by the librarian Langlès attesting that the manuscript was taken at Cairo by
General
Bonaparte
and that the "Citoyen" Monge presented it in his name to the
Bibliothèque
Nationale
(today it is Ms. 242 of the Turkish Supplement).
Emil A. VAN MOÉ