A comparative examination of simurg designs used in 16th century Chinese art and Ottoman miniatures

The world of imagination, which is the subject of the artistic context, aimed at a certain sanctity around mythological elements as well as giving symbolic meaning. At this point, animals have been a source of inspiration, so mythology has also been a source of inspiration for art. One of the mythological creatures that inspires is the Simurgh bird. Simurgh bird is a mythological bird, also known as Phoenix or Emerald Phoenix. As in other cultures, the Simurgh bird has different symbolic codes. These symbolic codes vary according to the situation of the story or legend. The Simurgh bird is a symbolic that was created by bringing together thirty birds with its own founding story and examined under the title of goodness. Simurg is a symbolic motif that is frequently used in Islamic culture and art, especially in various narratives and material culture products. One of these narratives is miniatures. Miniatures have a record value in Ottoman social and cultural life. The Simurgh bird is one of the important mythological figures of cultural narratives in terms of the symbolic codes it carries and the missions it undertakes. The simurg bird, which has an important place in Chinese mythology, is depicted in a realistic manner in paintings with a form that establishes more justice. In the light of all this information, the main purpose of this study is to reveal the place of the Simurgh bird in mythology, to examine its place in Ottoman and Chinese art and what its purpose of use is. The conceptual framework of the study was first built on the perceptions of traditional art in the Ottoman and Chinese civilizations, and then on revealing the meaning of the simurg image in these civilizations. In the following, the use of simurg was discussed in the presence of sample images in Ottoman miniatures and Chinese paintings, and in the last section, the study was concluded with a sample application.