This item has been added to the Database within the Explore Islamic Art Collections project. Information is available in: English, Arabic.

Name of Object:

Siyar-i Nabi (‘Life of the Prophet’)

Location:

Dublin, Ireland

Holding Museum:

The Chester Beatty Library

About The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin

Date of Object:

Hegira 1003 / AD 1594–95

Museum Inventory Number:

CBL T 419

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Coloured pigments and gold on paper

Dimensions:

37.4 x 27 cm

Period / Dynasty:

Ottoman

Provenance:

Turkey, Istanbul

Description:

In Cairo, in the late fourteenth-century, al-Darir wrote a siyar-i nabi (life of the prophet). Earlier such texts had been written, but al-Darir’s was the first to be written in Turkish, the language of the ruling Mamluk dynasty of Egypt. Some two hundred years later, in Istanbul, the Ottoman sultan Murad III (r. AH 982–1003 / AD 1574–95), commissioned a six-volume copy of al-Darir’s text. These illustrations are from the fourth volume of that manuscript, the volume dealing with the battles of Badr (AD 624) and Uhud (AD 625). The illustrations are the work of several individuals and are generally executed in a simple and direct style.

Citation of this web page:

 "Siyar-i Nabi (‘Life of the Prophet’)" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;ir;Mus21;34;en

MWNF Working Number: IR 34