Illustrated copies of the story of Forty Viziers

The subject of the thesis entitled Illustrated Copies of the Story of Forty Viziers, nearly identical two illustrated copies of manuscripts produced in the last of 16th century. One of these copies is undated, contains twelve miniatures and registred at İstanbul University Library (İÜK. T. 7415). The other copy is dated 1586/1587 (H. 995), in the Turkish manuscripts (UUL Vet. 38) section of Uppsala University Carolina Rediviva Library in Sweden and it has seventeen miniatures. As a genre of advice book, in terms of its style it is thought that the miniatures of the manuscripts were made by Nakkaş Osman and his team. The first examples of Story of Forty Viziers were encountered in Ottoman literature in the 15th century, was translated into Turkish from a lost Arabic original. In the introductions of some copies of the manuscripts, it is written that it was presented to Murad II (1421-1451) and Mehmed II (1451-1481). With its entertaining and educational aspect, Story of Forty Viziers was read with admiration in the Ottoman court. It is not known for whom the illustrated copies were produced during the reign of Murad III (1574-1595). Based on the period in which manuscripts were produced, the other works of Nakkaş Osman and the prominent book patrons of this period; Illustrated copies of the Story of Forty Viziers, which were prepared quite similarly to each other, were examined in terms of style and iconography. The manuscripts were evaluated in terms of the text and image relationship, the differences in the picture program, the problematic of the work was presented to who and who was its patron has been discussed.