Sakıp Sabancı’s (d. 2004) collection of calligraphic works by famous calligraphers, Korans and illuminated manuscripts began with the purchase of a levha (calligraphic panel) by Sultan Mahmud II (r. 1808-39). From 1989 onwards it was exhibited in major museums abroad. The keen interest attracted by these exhibitions cemented Sakıp Sabancı and his family’s resolve to further enlarge the collection and encouraged the idea of founding a museum.
 

In 1998 the family mansion Atlı Köşk (the Mansion with the Horse) was bequeathed to Sabancı University for the purpose of converting it into a museum, and in 2002 the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum opened to the public. The ground floor of the mansion was preserved with the original furnishings used by the Sabancı family when they lived there, while the upper floor rooms were transformed into galleries for exhibiting Ottoman manuscripts and calligraphic compositions. In 2012, the 10th anniversary of the Museum, the exhibition technique was enriched with technological applications.

Spanning a period from the 14th to 20th century, Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s Arts of the Book and Calligraphy Collection consists of Koran manuscripts and prayer books written by renowned calligraphers; albums compiling pages of Koranic verses, hadith, aphorisms and verses decorated with ornamental works and cut-papers; large panels composed to be hanged on the wall just like paintings; illuminated official documents bearing the imperial cipher of the Ottoman sultans, some of which are illuminated, and calligrapher’s tools made of silver and organic substances, such as coral, ivory, bone and tortoise shell.

 
 

From the early medieval period onwards Islamic rulers and magnates were increasingly interested in the arts, and sought to own finely illuminated, illustrated and bound books written by master scribes. Libraries were founded in contemporary centres of scholarship like Merv, Baghdad and Cordoba, and bookshops that were also scriptoriums and binderies proliferated. Illuminated manuscripts were foremost among the precious objects sent as diplomatic gifts, and royal treasuries overflowed with precious books. Sultan Ahmed III (r. 1703-30) had the first custom-built Ottoman library building constructed in the Enderun Courtyard at Topkapı Palace to house his collection of valuable manuscripts.
 

As well as Korans, illuminated copies of books on other subjects, particularly literature and history, were produced for bibliophile sultans, statesmen and magnates. In many cases these were also illustrated with miniature paintings. No expense was spared for the paper, leather, gold and pigments used in their production, and the calligraphers, illuminators, gilders, miniature painters and binders were generously remunerated.
 

The first stage in producing a manuscript book was preparing the paper. This was first dyed if desired, then size—usually consisting of alum and egg white—was applied, and it was polished to give the surface a smooth glossy finish. Then the paper was cut into pages of the correct size and gathered into quires. Straight ruled borders were drawn by an artist known as a cetvelkeş (literally ‘ruler artist’) around the areas on each page in which the text would be written. The calligrapher would then begin writing, leaving spaces for illustrations or illumination as appropriate. Usually calligraphers added a colophon at the end of the manuscript, giving their name, the date on which they completed the work, and sometimes the city in which the work was done. Then the illumination and illustration artists would set to work and when they had finished the quires were arranged in order, sewn, and attached to woven endbands at either end of the spine to prevent the quires coming apart. The binding would then be pasted along the spine.
 

 

Single page inscriptions written by calligraphers and decorative compositions by artists and illuminators were compiled into albums known as murakka, which have a special place in the Islamic arts of the book. Illuminators, painters, calligraphers, binders and a variety of artists specialising in cetvel (ruled gold borders), vassale (coloured paper collage used to decorate or repair margins), kat’ı (cut-paper work), marbling, flecked gold decoration and halkâr (gilded decoration), displayed their finest work. In some of these albums produced at various times and places, the individual pages are masterpieces in which the work of many artists are combined with outstanding skill and harmony.
 

The most outstanding examples of such albums were produced at the courts of Safavid sultans and princes in the 16th century. Many such albums were produced by the Ottomans between the 16th and 19th centuries, and these contain hundreds of calligraphic compositions. Most calligraphers wrote single-page compositions of this kind, consisting of prayers, Koranic verses, aphorisms, hadith, tongue twisters or experimental lettering exercises in one or more scripts. These compositions in portrait or landscape format are known as kıt’a. They were pasted onto cardboard and then surrounded by borders of decorative paper and illuminated.
 

 

Inscribing verses from the Koran, words spoken by the Prophet Muhammad, aphorisms and poetry on the interior and exterior walls of mosques, türbes (mausoleums), palaces and pavilions, on wooden doors, windows and pulpits is a very old tradition. Calligraphers wrote texts such as aphorisms, Koranic verses, hadiths, prayers and the names of God and the Prophet Muhammad and members of his family and disciples in large letters on panels that were hung on walls for everyone to read. These inscriptions were decorated with gilding and illumination. Sometimes pictures of Mecca or Medina, or the symbols of sufi orders were included in the composition. Calligraphers sometimes designed inscriptions in the form of pictures of birds and animals, such as storks or lions, or of human faces.
 

Texts known as hilye describing the physiognomy of the Prophet Muhammad, sometimes combined with prayers, verses from the Koran, talismanic diagrams, pictures, poems or talismanic phrases were written on large sheets of paper. These were pasted onto cardboard or sometimes panels of wood, illuminated and framed, then hung on the walls of rooms where they could be seen all the time. The popularity of these panels, known as hilye-i şerif, is attributed to a belief that became current in the late 17th century. According to this belief looking at a hilye-i şerif or at pictures of the Prophet’s tomb in Medina was equivalent to seeing the Prophet himself, and that person’s sins would be forgiven. It was also believed that the hilye protected the inhabitants of the house where it was hung from misfortune.

 
 

Calligraphers were very particular about the paper, reed pens and ink they used. The raw paper would be sized to fill the pores and then polished to create a flawlessly smooth surface before writing. Polishing is done with a special tool in the form of a round stone called mühre. This process also makes the paper more durable, prevents the ink seeping, allows unimpeded movement of the nib, and makes it possible to correct errors without damaging or staining the paper. Smaller mühres called zer-mühre (‘gold polisher’) are used to polish the gold leaf used to gild lettering or illumination.

In the past paper was sold in large sheets and had to be cut to the correct size using paper scissors with long blades, so that a single cut would be sufficient. These scissors are often ornately decorated with silver or gold inlay and bear a maker’s mark.
 

Other essential calligraphy equipment is a penknife and a tablet known as makta, used for nibbing reed pens. The uncut reed is first rested in the palm of the left hand and cut to a point with the knife, using downward slicing strokes. Then it is placed in the groove of the makta and the nib is split. Ink flows into the narrow slit, which serves as a reservoir, securing a constant flow of ink to the pen tip.
 

Penknives bear the maker’s mark. The handle may be made of metal, hard woods like ebony, semiprecious stones like agate or jade, or organic materials like coral, ivory, mother of pearl, bone, or tortoise shell.
 

Maktas are made of materials such as ivory, bone, walrus ivory, mother of pearl or tortoise shell. Occasionally they are made of metal with gold or silver inlay, but in this case the grooved section where the pen is laid to split the nib is always made of an organic material such as ivory.
 

Ink used by calligraphers essentially consists of lampblack, gum arabic and distilled water. It is kept in inkwells made of wood such as walnut, ebony or olive, metals such as brass, silver or gold, or porcelain. Calligraphers keep their pens, penknives and ink in a pen case known as divit made of jade, ivory, ebony or silver, and carry their paper rolled up in a cylindrical box known as kubur.

 
 

Although the Latin alphabet replaced the Arabic alphabet for writing Turkish in 1928, traditional calligraphy continued to be taught in schools of art, along with illumination and other arts of the book, thus making way for modern masters of calligraphy and arts of the book. Over the past century calligraphers have practiced the traditional forms, copying work by former masters on papers of varying dimensions and decorating them with halkâr gilding or marbling.
 

Some modern artists have combined traditional calligraphy with innovative designs, working in ink, oils or acrylic, digital format, or using print techniques. Some artists have even produced large woven compositions of Koranic verses or surahs in modern designs.
 

Videos and installations based on the calligraphy of the past, such as calligraphic pictures, have been produced using modern technology, thus creating fascinating images.