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W.658: Book on Navigation

Piri Reis (Turkish, 1465-1555)

17th-18th century

ink, paint, and gold on paper bound between boards covered with red leather with gilt

Folio H: 13 x W: 8 7/8 in. (33 x 22.5 cm); H open in cradle: 14 1/8 x W: 25 13/16 x D: 5 13/16 in. (35.8 x 65.5 x 14.7 cm)

Description
Originally composed in 932 AH/AD 1525 and dedicated to Sultan Süleyman I ("The Magnificent"), this great work by Piri Reis (d. 962 AH/AD 1555) on navigation was later revised and expanded. The present manuscript, made mostly in the late 11th century AH/AD 17th century, is based on the later expanded version with over 200 exquisitely executed maps and portolan charts of coastlines (bays, capes, peninsulas), islands, mountains and cities of the Mediterranean basin and the Black Sea. The work starts with the description of the coastline of Anatolia and the islands of the Aegean Sea, the Peloponnese peninsula and eastern and western coasts of the Adriatic Sea. It then proceeds to describe the western shores of Italy, southern France, Spain, North Africa, Syria, again Anatolia, Sea of Marmara, and Bosporus. It ends with a map of the shores of the Black Sea.

The binding is not contemporary to the manuscript.
Additional Information

Kitab-I Bahriye

Book of Maritime Matters

Acquired by Henry Walters

W.658

Not on view

fols. 1b-3b: fihrist (Table of contents)
fols. 1b-378a: Kitab-i bahriye

378 fols. + 4 flyleaves (front i, ii, back i, ii); 33.0 x 22.5 cm (textblock: 23.5 x 13.5 cm); 1 column of 19 lines; 2 columns of 19 lines for verses; catchwords on versos of folios written obliquely outside of the frame; 239 full page color maps and charts; illuminated headpiece; illuminated borders throughout.

Turkish (Ottoman)

Ottoman


Provenance

Ahmad Afandi [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [see folio 4a]; Ali Afandi [date and mode of acquisiton unknown] [see folio 4a]; Sultan Mahmud Khan [date and mode of acquistion unknown] [waqf seal and a bequest statement erased, seal of inspector of awqaf, Mustafa Tahir, see folio 4a]; Sayyid Ali Qapudan [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [see folio 1a]; Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

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