Hasan Rıza ( -1920)

Hilye-i Şerif

h. 1323 [1905]

Sabancı Üniversitesi Sakıp Sabancı Müzesi (Emirgan, İstanbul, Türkiye)

The first nine lines of the hilye text describing the physical characteristics, personality and demeanour of the Prophet Muhammad as recounted by Ali are written in the circular cartouche in the centre of the composition, and the next four lines are in the rectangular field below this. The text is written in nesih script. Above the four lines in the rectangular field is verse 107 of the Enbiya surah, ‘We sent thee not save as a mercy for the peoples’ in celi sülüs, and in the rectangular field at the bottom is the hadith ‘If not for you, if not for you I could not have created the worlds’, also in celi sülüs. At the top, above the extended sin of the besmele written in celi sülüs (magnified sülüs) is the first part of verse 27 of the Neml surah (That letter is from Solomon) written in sülüs script. Since the besmele (Bismillahirrahmanirrahim’, ‘In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful), is verse 30 from the same surah, reading the two inscriptions one after the other lends additional meaning to the composition. This device is a feature of all Hasan Rıza’s hilye panels. In the spandrels of the circular göbek are medallions containing the names of the four caliphs. Some of the spaces between the lines, verse stops, area above the extended letter sin of the besmele, the spaces around the cartouches and decorative panels are illuminated with bouquets in vases and long slender intertwined leaves.

Detail

Title:

Hilye-i Şerif

Artist:

Hasan Rıza ( -1920)

Date:

h. 1323 [1905]

Dimensions:

107 x 74,5 cm

Medium:

Paper, black ink, coloured paint, gold

Location:

Sabancı Üniversitesi Sakıp Sabancı Müzesi (Emirgan, İstanbul, Türkiye)

Credit:

Exhibition History

Blind Date - İstanbul

Five Hundred Years of Islamic Calligraphy. Masterpieces from Sakıp Sabancı Museum

Letters in Gold. Madrid

Hilye-i Şerif

Detail

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