An Illuminated Manuscript of Early Fourteenth-Century Konya? Anīs al-Qulūb (MS Ayasofya 2984, Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi, Istanbul)

Abstract

Research concerning the cultural and artistic life of medieval Rūm has made welcome advances in recent years. However, much of this research analyses architecture, and scholarship is yet to fully address the production of illuminated Islamic manuscripts in the later medieval period—material which is often rich in visual and historical detail. This article seeks to partially address this gap by discussing one illuminated manuscript: a copy of the Persian-language Anīs al-Qulūb by Burhān al-Dīn al-Anawī that was almost certainly produced in early fourteenth-century Konya. The article outlines the codicological and aesthetic aspects of the manuscript and analyses these findings in relation to other illuminated manuscripts from late medieval Konya. It demonstrates that, despite its relative neglect in Islamic art survey texts, illuminated manuscript production in Konya was a highly-developed art form with its own local conventions and links to other production centres of the Islamic arts of the book.