Letters in gold

Letters in Gold accompanies the first international exhibition of Ottoman calligraphic works from the Sakip Sabanci Collection, Istanbul. The seventy-one works constituting the exhibition are discussed and illustrated in color in this volume. Almost every major Ottoman calligrapher working between the fifteenth and early twentieth century is represented.

The examples include exquisitely illuminated Qur'ans and prayer handbooks, elegant albums or murakkaalar composed of calligraphic exercises and often decorated with sumptuous marbled paper or ebru, and spectacular, large-scale lettered compositions, called levhalar, which were framed and hung in mosques and homes. The volume also includes eleven royal edicts, beautifully crafted scrolls headed by the tugra, a sultan's imperial monogram. Rich gold letters and delicate blue-and-gold illuminations demonstrate how the written word can be transformed into a work of art. The introductory essay treats the history of Ottoman calligraphy, its tools and materials, the decoration and uses of calligraphy, and the training of calligraphers.

The catalogue section focuses not only on the magnificent works in the exhibition but also on the life and education of the calligraphers who created them.