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Sehname-i Selim Han (Shahnama-i Selim Khan), by Seyyid Lokman, 1581

Topkapi Sarai Museum, manuscript A3595 & dispersed folios

Illustrations from the Turkish Cultural Foundation, Nurhan Atasoy Archive; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; & Aga Khan Museum.

folio 9a. Audience of Semseddin Ahmed Karabagi with Lokman and the potential artist and scribes for the manuscript

folio 13a. Selim II’s audience with Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha and Lokman.	The spectators watch Selim II enthroned in Belgrade.	folio 43a. The battle at 'Aqara.
folio 53b. Presentation of gifts to Selim II by the Safavid envoy at Edirne, early in 1567.	folio 54a.	folio 55b.The Selimiye Mosque.
The Ottoman army marching on the city of Tunis in 1569.	folio 65a. The conquest of Tunisia	folio 68a. Murder of Ma'sum Beg, the envoy of the Safavid Shah Tahmasp, by Beduin in the Hijaz.
folio 72b. Özdemiroglu Osman Pasha’s battle with the enemy at Ta'izz during the Yemeni campaign - detail.	folio 91b. The envoy of the Yemeni governor asking the commander for peace.	folio 122a. Lala Mustafa Pasha’s execution of Venetian commanders.
folio 125b. The flaying of the Venetian commander Bragadino.	folio 131a. Hüseyin Pasha’s battle at Navarino, detail.
A detail from f.147b-148a	A detail from f.147b-148a	The funeral of Sultan Selim II
folio 147b, 148a. The conquest of Little Bastion castle (also known as La Goulette or Calq al-wadi) in Tunisia.
folio 156a. The Aya Sofya Mosque.

Made for Selim II, dated 6 Zilhicce 988/12 January 1581; copied by Ilyas Katib, painter Nakkas Osman. Covers the years 1566-1574.
Reference: The Production Of The Sehname-I Selim Han by Emine Fetvaci

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The most characteristic examples of Ottoman miniature art were produced in the second half of the sixteenth century as a result of the patronage of Sultans Selim II (1566-74) and Murad III (1574-95). The reigns of these sultans mark the classical period of Ottoman miniature art and the most productive era in historical painting. Throughout most of these years, the Turkish and Persian works of Seyyid Lokman, the court-appointed Sahnameci, were illustrated in rapid succession by selected painters working in the imperial studio. Foremost among them was the master Osman, the greatest name in Ottoman historical painting and the artist who mostly shaped Turkish miniature art during the classical period. It is known from documentary sources that Osman occupied a position in the court atelier from the first years of Selim II’s reign, becoming its most productive and prominent member during the years 1570-90. In addition to working with Lokman, he was responsible for illustrating the works of other writers as well. For many of these projects, he headed groups of artists chosen from the court atelier and directed their work. In the period from 1558 until 1592, Osman and his team illustrated several of Lokman’s Sahnames, which are written in Persian and in verse. The first of these, which actually dates back to the final years of Süleyman’s reign, is called the Zafername (Book of Victories. DCB, No.413). Lokman’s second “book of kings, the Sahname-i Selim Han”, is concerned with Selim II’s sultanate (TSMK, A.3595). The third is the first volume of the Sehinsahname (Book of the King of Kings) and describes events that occurred between the years 1574-81 during Murad III’s reign (IUK, F.1404). The last Sahname to emerge from this collaboration between Lokman and Osman was the second volume of the Sehinsahname, covering the years 1581-88 of Murad’s reign (TSMK, B.200). These Sahnames, all with the same dimensions and layout, contain more than two hundred miniatures of a documentary nature, detailing important architectural works, military campaigns and major victories, important court ceremonies and celebrations, the sultans’ accession to the throne, and their deaths.
Turkish Cultural Foundation.