ILLUMINATION AND CLOUD MOTIF OF A MUSHAF DATED 1455 IN RHODES

Nowadays, manuscript libraries, museums and private collections in many copies of the Holy Quran and hadith, commentary, fiqh, literature and so on. manuscripts are important in terms of containing precious illuminations. These carefully written works, which are the products of an elaborate and long process, arc an indication of the importance of Islamic civilization to science. These works also enable us to trace the periodical illumination concept and to follow the development of illumination art. The illuminated work to be examined as a research topic is a copy of the Holy Quran registered with the inventory number 06 in the Rhodes Hafiz Ahmet Aga Library. In the introduction part of the research, brief information about Mushaf decoration is given and then the subject of Mushaf is evaluated in terms of general characteristics and illumination properties. The ketebe sheet, which enables us to obtain information about the work, was read and immediately followed by the Turkish description. Since the illumination of the work covers the majority of the subject, the motif groups and pattern types used have been analyzed in detail. Mushaf is a very early example of using cloud motif in illumination. In addition to the bouquets and free designs of hatayi group motifs used in the decoration of the period, stylized tree motifs arc interesting examples for Mushaf decoration. The similarities were examined through another copy of the Holy Quran and some recent manuscripts of the same calligraphy.