An interpretive analysis of Matrakçı Nasuh's Beyan-ı Menazil : translating text into image by Yonca Kösebay.

Abstract

Beyan-ı Menazil (1537) is one of the most distinguished illustrated manuscripts of Ottoman art. It marks the transition from an exclusive textual historiography to one which includes illustrations. It contains 109 folios containing over 130 illustrations connected with Sultan Siileyman's campaign of 1533-1535 against the Safavids. This paper investigates the use of visual conventions in the illustrations. Conventions such as multiple views and connecting element? are used to indicate the itinerary and construct a narrative. Thus the illustrations of Beyan-ı Menazil is a second text. Furthermore, the illustrations themselves use conventions as representation types. These representation types and their variations are, in all probability, a transfiguration of actual field notes. Thus the illustrations of Beyan-ı Menazil are themselves the translation of text into image. The field notes and other elements also exhibit that the use of types is not merely a representational device; it in all probability extended into the actual survey - it was the very mode of observation. The use of representation types and its variations also not only allows specific correspondence with the actual buildings, but raises also the possibility of various observers, and artists involved in the production of the manuscript. Close scrutiny of the use of perspective raises the possibility that there were more than one artist; and probably an atelier involved, in the production of Beyan-ı Menazil. By demonstrating the use of representational types, and the translation of texts (such as field notes) into images, this paper offers a new insight into Beyan-ı Menazil.