Ottoman masterpieces to be auctioned

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

The seventh copy of ‘Kıtab-ı Usbiyye/Seven day Prayer’ (R top) will be auctioned along with many other pieces from the Ottoman. Asar-ı Atika Antika Art Gallery owner Can Önen says they did not determine a price for the work but he estimates that it will be sold for a very high price. AA Photo

Istanbul’s Asar-ı Atika Antika Art Gallery will organize the largest Ottoman artifact auction in the last 10 years on Feb. 18.

The seventh copy of “Kıtab-ı Usbiyye/ Seven Day Prayer” by Yakut İbn-i Abdü’l Musta’sımi, known as the master of calligraphers, will also be put up for sale at the auction among 382 pieces, including Ottoman palace masterworks and classical and contemporary paintings. The auction will be organized at the Conrad Hotel.

The owner of the art gallery, Can Önen, said the most important piece of the auction was the calligraphy “Kitab-I Usbiyye/Seven Day Prayer.” He said the newly found seventh copy of the calligraphy would be put up for sale in the auction. Previously, three copies had been in Turkey and three copies had been in other countries.

For the first time ever

“The work will be put up for sale for the first time ever. Yakut İbn-i Abdü’l Musta’sımi is the founder of the art of calligraphy and the person who guided Turkish calligraphy art. This is why this work is very significant, as well as being 700-800 years old,” he said.

Önen said they had not determined a price for the work in the auction catalogue but he estimated that the priceless work would be sold for a very high amount. “Until now, only four pages of the Quran written by Yakut İbn-i Abdü’l Musta’sımi have been sold anywhere. The buyer paid 1,700,000 pounds for them.”

Önen said the work came to the Ottoman Empire around 1200-1300 and was kept since then by a family.

Yakut İbn-i Abdü’l Musta’sımi was trained by the last Abbasid caliph, Musta’sım Billah, in the Black Sea province of Amasya and he marked an era in the art of calligraphy.
Among his surviving works, his “Kıtab-I Usbiyye/ Seven Day Prayer” is regarded as a masterpiece.

Calligraphic panel of Mustafa II in auction

Önen said each Ottoman sultan was trained in a different branch of art, such as Abdülhamid, known as a carpenter, and Abdülmecid, known as a calligrapher.

“But the most important calligrapher among the Ottoman sultans was Sultan Mustafa II. He was a modest sultan and a dervish at the same time. He was trained by Hafız Osman, one of the most famous calligraphers in the world. Only two of his calligraphic panels have been found. One of them is on display at a museum. The second one will be auctioned in our auction. He says ‘I am a poor dervish Mustafa from an Ottoman family’ on the panel. The opening price will be 150,000 Turkish Liras but I estimate that it will be sold for a higher price,” he said.

Paintings by Şevket Dağ, İbrahim Çallı, Ömer Adil, Devrim Erbil, Zeki Ormancı, Selim Turan, Burhan Uygur, Nejad Melih Devrim and Nuri İyem will also be on sale in the auction.

Önen said the oil painting “Langa Bostanı” by Nazmi Ziya, one of the most important Ottoman representatives of impressionism, would be put up for sale for 900,000 liras.