080026 PS Case Study I: The Arts of the Book at the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal Courts (2020W)

The course provides an introduction to the arts of the book at the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal Courts. The Ottomans, the Safavids and the Mughals are the most important Muslim dynasties of the Early Modern Period. The centre of the Ottoman Empire lay in a region that corresponds to modern-day Turkey, while the Safavid Empire was centred around what is today Iran. The Mughals for their part ruled over a significant part of the Indian subcontinent.
Books were prestigious objects for all three dynasties. Their special status is evident in the care and costliness of their decoration. The binding of a luxury manuscript is the first thing one sees. Thus, the binding’s design is given special attention in the production process. Bindings from Islamic cultures have a different structure from European ones. This point will be discussed at the beginning although the main focus lies on the bindings’ ornamentation. The various materials and techniques employed to decorate bindings will be studied using Ottoman and Safavid examples.
Several other topics will be discussed in the course of the semester: decorated papers (ex: marble paper), illumination, decorative borders, calligraphy and other artworks made with paper. The examples are taken from princely albums for these discussion points. Artworks were collected and set in decorative borders in the early modern period, creating codices that are referred to as albums in Islamic Art History.

Students are expected to attend the tutorial which goes with this course. The tutorial introduces students to academic research and to academic writing.

The main aims of the course are:
-to impart the basic principles of academic research
-to practise presenting one’s research coherently
-to foster critical reading of scholarly literature

Describing, analysing and interpreting art works is practised with the help of short assignments, a presentation and a final paper. By reading and discussing texts together, the class trains critical thinking. At the same time, the course provides students with foundations in codicology and in the arts of the book under the most important Muslim dynasties of the early modern period. Students are also taught the principles of academic research.