Sünbülname Mecmua (TSMK-Hazine 413) as a Literary Text

Abstract

The literature refers to Sünbülname (The Hyacinth book), which is a muraqqa‘ mecmua (miscellany) that resides in the Library at the Topkapı Palace Museum as Treasure no. 413. It is a remarkable masterpiece because it contains forty-two illustrations of hyacinths and forty two poems, each of which relate to those hyacinths. Composed in 1149 (1736), the miscellany is an example of a hyacinth catalogue that a florist sent from the Netherlands to Sultan Mahmûd I (r. 1730-1754). Poets composed a couplet that was specific to each hyacinth and which included a new Turkish name for the variety in question. Calligraphers then penned each poem beautifully in Talîk script and illuminators decorated each page with exquisite illuminations, all of which tailored the catalogue to suit Ottoman aesthetics. With the exception of two couplets, every page comprises a title at the top and a note at the bottom, where the notes give the name of the calligrapher and of the poet who wrote the corresponding poem. Additionally, some of the notes give the date e.g. 1149 (1736). Some of the literature provides information on the miscellany but the literary aspects of the texts and the people who composed them are examined only rarely. This paper explores the miscellany, reciting and evaluating briefly its contents, and introduces the people who composed it whom it then covers in depth. This introduction determines primarily the names of the poets who composed the couplets (Ḥıfẓī, Ṣalāḥī, Çuḳadār Ḥüseyin Beg) and the calligraphers who penned them (‘İsmā‘īl, Ḥācı, ‘İsmā‘īl, ‘Alī). The paper ends with transcriptions of the poems’ texts, which none of the literature gives at the time of this writing.