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二〇二一年十二月
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摘要
I
摘要
“墨笔大师穆罕默德的作品”这一简短署名，可见于伊斯坦布尔托普卡皮宫博物
馆收藏的H.2153 和H.2160 册页中的一组十五世纪上半叶的画作上，以及散落在世界
各地的其他画作。自20 世纪50 年代这本册页首次公开以来，国际学术界对这位神秘
画家“墨笔大师”的惊奇之情一直萦绕于心。许多相关学者和历史家认为所谓的“墨
笔大师穆罕默德”并不存在，这些画作被归于一个以黑色水墨画为特征的“墨笔”流
派。由于缺乏相关的资料，有关墨笔大师穆罕默德的文献仅限于早期的专著和伊斯兰
艺术教科书中的简要参考。涉及墨笔大师穆罕默德的文章经常指出他的绘画风格受到
的中亚、中国、佛教、摩尼教和拜火教影响。不过，这些言论沿袭了早期专著的看
法，有一定的重复性。
本文以人与物之间关系的纠缠理论的新视觉,深入分析中国艺术对墨笔大师穆罕默
德绘画作品的影响，同时也将对《伊斯坦布尔册页》进行体性观察。通过分析这些特
殊的画作之所以被编纂者放在一起的原因，试图理解波斯观众看待中国视觉传统的方
式。
作为对所谓墨笔大师穆罕默德画作的进一步探索，本文考察了这些作品中的恶魔
和老虎的图像。注意到墨笔大师穆罕默德的恶魔与来自中国的《搜山图》之间的关
系， 还探索了册页H.2153 中的两幅老虎画作与东亚视觉传统中老虎画的关系。本文
将调查14 世纪和15 世纪西亚和东亚间的艺术交流情况，并从古波斯观众的角度来分
析墨笔大师穆罕默德画作中的所谓“不寻常性”。
关键词：细密画；波斯绘画；中华文化；文化交流
北京大学硕士学位论文
II

The Library of the Topkapı Palace Museum in Istanbul owns four illustrated albums
(muraqqa), Hazine 2152, 2153, 2154, and 2160, that are collectively known as the Istanbul
Albums. Two of these albums, H. 2153 and H. 2160, hold a group of paintings from the first
half of the fifteenth century that are cryptically signed “work of Master Muhammad the
Black Pen.” Given the perceived unusual nature of his known body of work and the lack of
further information on his identity, an astonishment with this mysterious painter, “Master
Muhammad the Black Pen,” has surrounded the international academic circles since the
1950s when the paintings were first made available to a larger public. Scholars dealing with
Master Muhammad the Black Pen often point out to a range of cultural influences that can be
observed from his painting style, as well as the subject matter of his paintings, including
Central Asian, Chinese, Buddhist, Manicheist, and Zoroastrian.
The main objective of this master’s thesis is to showcase the entangled nature of the
influences between the Persianate and Chinese visual cultures utilizing the human-thing
entanglement theory. It also aims to analyze the Istanbul Albums in their entirety, and show
that they are deliberately curated collections of art that convey a narrative of cultural
otherness. By scrutinizing why these particular paintings were put together in the same
album by their compilers, this thesis attempts to understand the Persian audiences’
perception of Chinese visual traditions.
As a further exploration, this thesis takes a closer look at demon and tiger paintings
attributed to Master Muhammad the Black Pen or painted in his signature style, qalamsiyahi.
As a case study, the relationship between Master Muhammad the Black Pen’s
demons, and Chinese soushan tu 搜山图 is noted. Two tiger paintings from the album H.
2153 are put in the context of tiger related visual motifs in East Asian painting traditions.
KEYWORDS: illustrated manuscript, Persianate painting, Chinese art, cultural exchange
Table of Contents
III
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 2: The Istanbul Albums as Entangled Things ....................................................... 8
Chapter 3: Disentangling the History of Artistic Exchanges Between Persianate and
Chinese Cultures ................................................................................................................... 22
Chapter 4: Case Studies on the Demon and Tiger Motifs in the Istanbul Albums ........ 35
Chapter 5: Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 56
References .............................................................................................................................. 60
Illustration Credits ................................................................................................................ 63
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... 65
Originality Statement ........................................................................................................ 66

Chapter 1: Introduction
1
Chapter 1: Introduction
In the Library of the Topkapı Palace Museum in Istanbul, there are four albums that are
collectively known as the Istanbul Albums. Two of these albums, namely H.2153 and H.2160,
hold a group of unusual paintings from the first half of the fifteenth century. Part of what
makes these paintings unusual is the short inscriptions that are found on the margins of these
paintings. These short inscriptions on the 65 of these paintings read “Work of Master
Muhammad the Black Pen”. Casually written, it is unlikely that these are signatures were left
behind by the artist himself. The style of these inscriptions is typical of those added to
paintings at a later time for archival purposes. Nonetheless, an astonishment with this
mysterious painter “Master Muhammad the Black Pen,” has surrounded the international
academic circles since the 1950s when the paintings were first made available to a larger public.
Given the lack of information on the identity of Master Muhammad the Black Pen as a
historical figure, the extant literature on this painter is limited to a few early monographs and
brief references in the textbooks of Islamic Art. These studies commonly emphasize the
unusuality of his works, pointing out their alienness in the larger oeuvre of Persianate painting.
Articles dealing with Master Muhammad the Black Pen often discuss a range of influences
that can be observed from his paintings, including primarily Central Asian, Chinese, Buddhist,
and occasionally Manicheist and Zoroastrian. Many historians suggest that it is unlikely that
the paintings attributed to this artist were created by the same person, pointing out the stylistic
and technical differences. Apart from the 65 illustrations found in the albums H. 2153 and H.
2160 that are inscribed with Master Muhammad the Black Pen’s name, there are a couple
dozen more uninscribed paintings scattered around the world that share common
characteristics with the inscribed ones, making the number of paintings attributed to him more
than 80.1 Among these paintings, multiple groups that are stylistically and technically different
from one another naturally form. Thus, it is often tacitly accepted that these inscriptions, which
attribute all of these paintings to a single artist, are less than convincing.
Some historians argue that “Master Muhammad the Black Pen” is simply a moniker that
refers to the artist’s mastery of the “black pen” school of painting (qalam-siyahi) that was
characterized by ink paintings. It is also speculated that these works found in the Istanbul
1 Basil W. Robinson, “Siyah Qalam,” in Islamic Art I, ed. Ernst J. Grube, Eleanor G. Sims, and John Carswell, An Annual
Dedicated to the Art and Culture of the Muslim World (NY: The Islamic Art Foundation, 1981), 63.
北京大学硕士学位论文
2
Albums belong to a group of painters, including a master (i.e., Master Muhammad the Black
Pen), and his followers who imitated his style. Many of the studies regarding Master
Muhammad the Black Pen follow the footsteps of the aforementioned early monographs and
conclude that not much can be historically known of the identity of the painter called Master
Muhammad the Black Pen.
This thesis will aim to further understand the body of work attributed to Master
Muhammad the Black Pen by showcasing its entanglement with the Chinese visual culture.
Utilizing the concept of human-thing entanglement, it will point out the multilateral network
of influences and the multidirectional, dynamic nature of the exchanges that have taken place
between different visual cultures. It will also argue that the Istanbul Albums, which albums H.
2153 and H. 2160 are a part of, carry a meta-narrative of cultural otherness. Among the cultural
others that they define, there is also China, as seen from the lenses of fifteenth-century
Persianate patrons and compilers. The Istanbul Albums can be considered to be artistic
collections which study and display the cultural other and engage in comparative cultural
studies in their own right. In other words, they are a precious part of history that stands witness
to the interactions between Persianate and Chinese cultures.
1.1 Literature Review
There are a number of historians and art historians whose meticulous research was
invaluable to the formation of this thesis and its core arguments. Due to the cross-cultural
nature of this study, the literary background of this thesis includes works on the arts of China,
Persia, and Central Asia. Some of the works that helped the preliminary research process of
this thesis include the introductory art history book “Art in China” by Craig Clunas,2 books
on the Chinese arts of book-making and illustration such as “The History of the Book in East
Asia” edited by Cynthia Brokaw and Peter Kornicki3 and “A Brief History of Ancient Chinese
Woodcut Paintings” (Zhongguo gudai mukehua shilüe 中国古代木刻画史略) by Zheng
Zhenduo 郑振铎,4 as well as books that focus on the arts of Persia and Central Asia such as,
“The Arts of the Book in Central Asia” edited by Basil Gray,5 “Islamic Visual Culture”6 and
2 Craig Clunas, Art in China, Oxford History of Art (Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997).
3 Cynthia Brokaw and Peter Kornicki, eds., The History of the Book in East Asia, The History of the Book in the East
(Burlington, VT: Ashgate Pub. Co, 2013).
4 Zheng Zhenduo 郑振铎, Zhongguo gudai muke hua shilüe “中国古代木刻画史略” [A Brief History of Ancient Chinese
Woodcut Paintings], 1st ed., Xinyuan dian congshu (Shanghai: Shanghai shudian chubanshe, 2010).
5 Gray Basil, ed., The Arts of the Book in Central Asia, 14th-16th Centuries (UNESCO, 1979).
6 Oleg Grabar, Islamic Visual Culture, 1100-1800, vol. II, Constructing the Study of Islamic Art (Ashgate Pub. Co., 2006).
Chapter 1: Introduction
3
“Mostly Miniatures” by Oleg Grabar.7 Works such as “The Legacy of Genghis Khan” edited
by Linda Komaroff and Stefano Carboni, provided a solid basis on the art and culture of the
Mongol-ruled Ilkhanid Persia.8 In this volume, Robert Hillenbrand’s chapter “The Arts of the
Book in Ilkhanid Iran” was particularly helpful in understanding how the Persian art of
manuscript illustration came about at the cross-section of Persianate and Chinese cultures.9
Studies exploring Chinese influences on Persianate painting often take an interest in the
Ilkhanid Persia, which was a part of the Mongol Empire. Ilkhanate’s land extended from
modern-day Iran to Turkey. Distinguished scholars, such as Sheila S. Blair, have done
extensive research on illustrated manuscripts produced during the Ilkhanid period, such as the
early fourteenth-century manuscript of the court historian Rashid al-Din (1247–1318) Jami’
al-tawarikh or ‘Compendium of Chronicles’, discovering direct influences of Chinese painting
in them.10 The Ilkhanid period is when we start to see more and more illustrated manuscripts
produced in the Islamic lands of western and central Asia. By the fifteenth century, royal
treasuries all around Central Asia and the Middle East consisted of numerous illustrated
manuscripts whose visual language owed much to the stimulus of Chinese painting traditions.
The works of the scholars of Chinese art history and the works of the scholars of Islamic
and Persianate art were equally important for this project. That being said, there is a tendency
that the scholars of Islamic and Persianate art are more likely to discuss the Chinese influence
on these artistic traditions than vice versa. However, there are some exceptions, such as
insightful commentaries of James Cahill11 and Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt12. These scholars
argue that archaic Tang motifs that gained popularity in the early Yuan period were, in fact,
reintroduced to China proper through Central Asia, absorbing some foreign elements under
the guise of archaic Chinese painting traditions.
This research would not be complete without the foundational studies undertaken by the
scholars who participated in the 10th Colloquy on Art and Archaeology in Asia, titled
7 Oleg Grabar, Mostly Miniatures : An Introduction to Persian Painting (Princeton University Press, 2002).
8 Linda Komaroff and Stefano Carboni, eds., The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Cultur in Western Asia, 1256-
1353 (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002).
9 Robert Hillenbrand, “The Arts of the Book in Ilkhanid Iran,” in The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in
Western Asia, 1256-1353, ed. Linda Komaroff and Stefano Carboni (New Haven and London: Yale University Press,
2002), 134–67.
10 Sheila Blair, “Illustrating History: Rashid al-Din and His ‘Compendium of Chronicles,’” Iranian Studies 50, no. 6
(November 2, 2017): 819–42, https://doi.org/10.1080/00210862.2016.1268376.
11 James Cahill, “Some Alternative Sources for Archaistic Elements in the Paintings of Qian Xuan and Zhao Mengfu,” Ars
Orientalis 28 (1998): 64–75.
12 Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt, “Chinese Ladies in the Istanbul Albums,” in Islamic Art I, ed. Ernst J. Grube, Eleanor G.
Sims, and John Carswell, An Annual Dedicated to the Art and Culture of the Muslim World (NY: The Islamic Art
Foundation, 1981), 77–84.
北京大学硕士学位论文
4
“Between China and Iran,” in 1980. This colloquy took the Istanbul Albums as its main topic
of research. The first volume of “Islamic Art: An Annual Dedicated to the Art and Culture of
the Muslim World Volume” published the papers delivered at the “Between China and Iran”
colloquy.13 This publication is of tremendous importance and a cornerstone in studying the
Istanbul Albums and Master Muhammed the Black Pen. It brings together a number of seminal
articles from renowned scholars of Islamic art, including the volume’s editor, the late Ernst J.
Grube, German art historian, and the first curator of the Islamic collection at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art. The Istanbul Albums have been known to art historians since the beginning
of the twentieth century and were brought under the spotlight in 1954 thanks to Turkish
historian Oktay Aslanapa’s efforts in publishing their contents. However, Grube recognizes
that for a long time, they have been treated as novelties among the more coherent body of
Islamic art and painting and consequently have been left at the margins of scholarly
understanding.14 Grube asserts that both the colloquy and the published volume aimed to
tackle this gap and become a stepping-stone for future researchers of the Istanbul albums.
Moreover, they managed to accomplish just that, as although published 40 years ago, these
papers remain relevant in the field.
The most pressing goal of these earlier scholars was answering the question of attribution
and provenance. With this goal in mind, they engaged in taxonomical studies where they
identified main centers, schools, and masters of artistic production whose works can be found
in the Istanbul Albums. They studied the material evidence to define the roles of practitioners
and patrons, as well as to establish artistic canons. The initial studies were focused on
classification rather than critical analysis. For example, Grube talks about three stylistic
categories which the paintings in the Istanbul albums can be grouped into: (1) “the Siyah
Qalam paintings” (2) “the ‘Chinese Style’ paintings,” and (3) “paintings of mixed
conventions.”15 It must be mentioned that all three of these categories include paintings that
are attributed to Master Muhammad the Black Pen (thanks to the inscriptions)—not just the
“the Siyah Qalam paintings” category. This category is reserved to “nomad” and “demon”
themed paintings attributed to Master Muhammed the Black Pen. Grube, just like many other
scholars who study these paintings, recognizes the paintings in this category as paintings that
13 A. A. Ivanov, “Some Observations on the Miniatures of Muhammad Siyah Qalam,” in Islamic Art I, ed. Ernst J. Grube,
Eleanor G. Sims, and John Carswell, An Annual Dedicated to the Art and Culture of the Muslim World (NY: The Islamic
Art Foundation, 1981), 66–68.
14 Ernst J. Grube, Eleanor G. Sims, and John Carswell, eds., Islamic Art I, An Annual Dedicated to the Art and Culture of
the Muslim World (NY: The Islamic Art Foundation, 1981).
15 Ernst J. Grube, “The Problem of the Istanbul Album Paintings,” in Islamic Art I, ed. Ernst J. Grube, Eleanor G. Sims, and
John Carswell, An Annual Dedicated to the Art and Culture of the Muslim World (NY: The Islamic Art Foundation, 1981),
1–30.
Chapter 1: Introduction
5
possess an individual quality, and paintings whose style be pinpointed to a previously known
school or atelier. Thus, while some paintings that are similarly inscribed with the Black Pen’s
name can be identified as ‘Chinese Style’ (i.e., copies or near-copies of Chinese paintings),
“nomad” and “demon” themed paintings are often handled separately.
On the other hand, other scholars such as Sugimura choose to shift away from the stylistic
differences and classify the Istanbul Album in four major categories according to their subject
matter: (1) “landscape,” (2) “animals (including fish),” (3) “flowers and birds,” and (4)
“figural compositions.” He identifies the “landscape” category and the “flowers and birds”
categories as being “notably of Chinese origin.” He states that these categories or genres lack
comparable examples in Islamic painting.16
Among the contemporary art historians who study the Istanbul paintings is David J.
Roxburgh. David Roxburgh is one of the most important scholars who contributed to the
modern art historians’ understanding of art-historical awareness within Persianate cultures of
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Roxburgh’s art-historiographical approach to the study
of the Persian albums manages to take the scholarship one step further from the traditional
studies that preceded it. This thesis drew tremendous inspiration from the pioneering work of
Roxburgh.
1.2 Theoretical Framework
This analysis of the Istanbul Albums, and their role as a patchwork of visual elements that
were evaluated as a culturally alien by their compilers, will be informed by the works of
contemporary scholars in the studies of the Istanbul Albums. This analysis will also borrow
ideas from thing theory as interpreted by Ian Hodder in archaeological studies. The term thing
theory was coined by the literary scholar Bill Brown and has been used in literary studies. The
well-known archaeologist Ian Hodder introduced thing theory into the field of archaeology
and coined the term human-thing entanglement, creating potentials for studying cultural
exchanges and transformations from a non-anthropocentric point of view. According to
Hodder’s Entangled,17 material objects and people interact in four ways: (1) things depend on
humans, (2) humans depend on things, (3) humans depend on other humans, and (4) things
depend on other things. All these interactions take place both synchronically and
diachronically, creating human-thing entanglement. The efforts to disentangle an
16 Toh Sugimura, “The Chinese Impact on Certain Fifteenth Century Persian Miniature Paintings from the Albums (Hazine
Library Nos. 2153, 2154, 2160) in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum, Istanbul” (Ph.D., USA, University of Michigan, 1981), 11.
17 Ian Hodder, Entangled: An Archaeology of the Relationships between Humans and Things (Malden, MA: Wiley-
Blackwell, 2012).
北京大学硕士学位论文
6
entanglement that took place over centuries in search of an original state may sometimes be
misinformed, misleading, or futile.
Studying the Istanbul Albums from the lens of human-thing entanglement and thing
theory may help us identify the relations or interactions that have been overlooked before. In
this thesis, the entanglement of things refers to the aforementioned interactions and their
results. Their disentanglement refers to the study and analysis of these entanglements with the
purpose of revealing and unraveling the interwoven networks of influences that play a role in
their development.
Admittedly, the full application of Hodder’s thing theory in art historical research is
neither well-defined nor well-understood. However, at the core of this theory are things as its
name suggests, and it aims to analyze things in their own right. Therefore, it is an innovative
theory that holds great potential in art historical research. In his 2012 work, Entangled, Hodder
states that:
“As social actors we tend to see things in ego-centered ways, in terms of what they can
do for us. We hardly look at them. Our interests are in the effects for us, aesthetic, social,
scientific, psychological, and so on. But every now and then, we actually look at the thing
itself, as a whole object, a thing in its own right.” 18
This study will refer back to the thing theory and human-thing entanglement in the
analysis of the Istanbul Albums, as well as two visual motifs within them, i.e., demon and tiger
motifs, to showcase the entanglement of painting traditions, visual elements, and artistic
exchanges.
1.3 Chapter Organization
The introduction chapter has given an outline of this research, defined its purpose, and
delineated its framework. The Literature Review subsection discussed the existing literature
on the exchanges between west Asian and Chinese cultures and gave the historical overview
of the current scholarship. This historical review focused on the four Istanbul Albums that are
a part of the Library of the Topkapı Palace Museum’s collection. With their cross-cultural and
novel content and debated provenance, the Istanbul Albums have astounded the scholars of
the Persianate painting for a long time. This subsection went over these existing discussions
regarding the debated history of the albums. The Theoretical Framework subsection
18 Hodder, Entangled, 2.
Chapter 1: Introduction
7
introduced the human-thing entanglement theory, which this thesis uses to analyze and
understand the Istanbul Albums and their place within Asian painting traditions.
The second chapter of this thesis will focus on an analysis of the Istanbul Albums as
entangled things in order to deconstruct the meta-narrative that was conveyed through them.
This chapter will first highlight the characteristics of the Istanbul Albums as things inspired
by Ian Hodder’s human-thing entanglement theory. Then, it will demonstrate how the metanarrative
of the Istanbul Albums can be deconstructed by shifting the focus to the act of their
compilation. It will show how by being grouped together, the paintings that make up the
albums gained additional meaning and significance. This chapter will also elaborate on the
different applications of the human-thing entanglement theory.
The third chapter will reveal the complexity of exchanges and interactions that have taken
place between Chinese and Persian artistic traditions and visual languages. By showing the
complex and interwoven network of cross-cultural interactions and influences, it will try to
disentangle them.
The fourth chapter will consist of two case studies that compare the paintings attributed
to Master Muhammad the Black Pen or painted in the black pen style (qalam-siyahi) and
Chinese paintings on similar themes. The first part of this chapter will talk about the demon
paintings in the albums H.2153 and H.2160 and compare them to the soushan pictorial theme
that also depicts equally peculiar monsters, engaging in similar activities. The second part will
focus on tiger paintings from the Istanbul Albums and explore their similarities to the mother
tigress motif found in East Asian visual traditions.
The fifth and final chapter will provide concluding remarks.
北京大学硕士学位论文
8
Chapter 2: The Istanbul Albums as Entangled Things
This chapter aims to analyze the Istanbul Albums as muraqqas, products of artistic
curation, compilations of independent and seemingly unrelated artworks by compilers with (or
perhaps without) a clear intention of conveying certain messages to their audience. This thesis
argues that, whether with or without intention, by bringing together artworks that appeared
unique to them, the compilers of the Istanbul Albums created an entangled object that
represented the cultural other. In addition to how their compilers have interacted with the
things that made up the Istanbul Albums (i.e., artworks), these things have also interacted with
one another and shaped the perception of Persianate audiences’ on Chinese visual traditions.
This chapter will first provide a description of the Istanbul Albums and Master
Muhammad the Black Pen, expanding on the Introduction section. Then, it will highlight the
characteristics of the Istanbul Albums as things informed by Hodder’s human-thing
entanglement theory. This second part will demonstrate a variety of ways the human-thing
entanglement theory may be used to analyze the Istanbul Albums and Persianate muraqqas in
general. It will also touch upon some other functions that illustrated manuscripts and muraqqas
serve as material things, for instance, as collection items and exhibition objects.
The literal meaning of muraqqa is “patched” in Persian and Arabic,19 and this word is
used to describe a traditional type of album that assemble a variety of artworks, such as
calligraphies, independent paintings or drawings, or even loose pages that used to be a part of
other illustrated manuscripts. These artworks are arranged on the folios of the album in a
“patchwork-like” manner, and the arrangement gets framed with a margin of decorated
elements20. Figure 1 shows the folio 39b of the album H. 2153 in the Topkapı Palace Museum
Collection. At the center of this folio, we see a painting of two “demons” (attributed to Master
Muhammed the Black Pen) made on silk. This painting is surrounded by a number of
calligraphic writings. The written content is not relevant to the painting. The calligraphic
writings included in muraqqa are works of art that are included in this collection in their own
right; they are often not complementary to the paintings. The contents of this page, similar to
other pages that are found in the Istanbul Albums, and many other muraqqas, especially of
early periods, do not face the same direction. Thus, muraqqas need to be enjoyed by turning
19 Emine Fetvacı and Christiane Gruber, “Painting, from Royal to Urban Patronage,” in A Companion to Islamic Art and
Architecture, ed. Gülru Necipoğlu and Finbarr Barry Flood, vol. II (Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2017), 887.
20 David J. Roxburgh, Prefacing the Image: The Writing of Art History in Sixteenth-Century Iran, (Studies and Sources in
Islamic Art and Architecture 9 (Leiden; Boston; Köln: Brill, 2001), 3.
Chapter 2: The Istanbul Albums as Entangled Things
9
them around while viewing. H. 2153 is also much larger than a modern audience might expect
it to be. With 50.2 cm in length and 33.8 cm in width, H.2153 is comparable to other Istanbul
Albums in size, except H. 2152, which is larger than the rest (68 cm by 50 cm). Muraqqas are
often impressive in size and rich in content, both in terms of diversity and quantity. This earns
them the description: “Portable art treasuries contained between the covers of a book.”21
Figure 1 Folio 39B from TSMK H.2153. (Image credit: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library,
Istanbul)
“The Istanbul Albums” is a collective title given to four albums in the collection of the
Topkapı Palace Museum Treasury, namely albums H.2152 (known as “Album of Baysungur”),
H.2153 (known as “Album of Yaqub Beq I” or by its misleading sobriquet “Fatih Album”),
H.2154 (known as “Album of Bahram Mirza”), and H.2160 (known as “Album of Yaqub Beq
II”). Even though their collective name makes it sound like these albums have always been a
set, these albums were created by different compilers, under the patronage of different rulers.
They were later brought to Istanbul as gifts, or were claimed by Ottoman Sultans as war
bounties and became one of the oldest muraqqas in the Ottoman archives. As mentioned in
the Literature Review section, the earlier studies made on these albums were largely concerned
with the questions of provenance and attribution. The names given to these albums result from
these previous studies, and they reflect well-informed arguments, rather than conclusive
designations. As these albums are collections of independent artworks, the previous studies
have not only speculated on questions such as by and for whom they were compiled, but also
21 Fetvacı and Gruber, “Painting, from Royal to Urban Patronage,” 887.
北京大学硕士学位论文
10
worked on dating and locating the individual paintings. The most generalized and confident
proposition is that both the albums and the paintings were products of 14th-15th century Central
Asian ateliers and patrons. More specifically and more tentatively, scholars credit Timur
(1336-1405)’s atelier in Samarkand around 1400; Herat and Samarqand ateliers of Shah Rukh
(1377-1447) and Uluq Beg (1394-1449) in the first half of the 15th century; or the Turkman
atelier active in Tabriz between 1470 and 1490 with the creation of these artworks and
compilations.22 Among these albums H. 2154 includes a preface written by a Persian art
historian, and the compiler of the album, Dust Muhammad (active c. 1510-1564), which
clearly states that this album was created under the patronage of Safavid Prince Bahram Mirza
(1517-1549), Shah Tahmasp (1514-1576)’s uterine brother. According to this preface, it is
also known that this album was completed in 1544-1545.23 This preface is acknowledged as
one of the first known pieces of art historical writings which is extant today.24
In the albums H.2153 and H.2160, 65 paintings that bear the inscription “work of Master
Muhammad the Black Pen.” can be found. Some of these inscriptions are written in beautiful
nastaliq calligraphy, some written somewhat haphazardly. Some give full attribution to Master
Muhammad the Black Pen and read “kar-i Ustad Muhammad Siyah Qalam,” kar meaning
‘work of,’ ustad meaning ‘master,’ and Siyah Qalam meaning ‘Black Pen.’ Other inscriptions
simply read “kar-i Ustad Muhammad,” and others prefer the verb amal, instead of kar to mean
‘work.’ Ivanov states that inscriptions that begin with the word kar is a phrasing that is more
often used in attributions, and the authentic signatures by fifteenth and sixteenth-century
painters usually began with the verb amal.25
Oftentimes, these inscriptions are credited to “an unknown romantic librarian” who took
it into his hands to attribute these paintings to the mysterious Master Muhammad the Black
Pen. It is possible that this unknown person came to the conclusion that the inscriptions written
in nastaliq were original signatures, and completed the collection according to his best
judgement.26 Zeren Tanındı argues that it is highly possible that these inscriptions, especially
those that are written in a casual hand (as opposed to those written in nastaliq script), were
additions made by Ottoman sultan Ahmed I (c. 1590 – 1617), who was known to enjoy these
22 Grube, “The Problem of the Istanbul Album Paintings,” 4.
23 Roxburgh, Prefacing the Image, 6.
24 Craig Clunas, Chinese Painting and Its Audiences, The A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts 2017 (Princeton, New
Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2017), 11.
25 Ivanov, “Some Observations on the Miniatures of Muhammad Siyah Qalam,” 66.
26 Grabar, Mostly Miniatures : An Introduction to Persian Painting, 59.
Chapter 2: The Istanbul Albums as Entangled Things
11
albums.27 The inconsistency of the inscriptions, as well as the differences in handwriting,
makes it clear that they are merely attributions and not signatures and gives the researchers an
acceptable reason to doubt their validity. All in all, it is even uncertain if the scribe(s) of these
inscriptions perceived Master Muhammad the Black Pen as a person or a school of painting.
Even though there are more than 80 paintings are attributed (65 of them through the
aforementioned inscriptions, and the rest through stylistic and technical similarity to those that
are inscribed) to the mysterious painter called Master Muhammed the Black Pen or
Muhammed Siyah Qalam, not even the legitimacy of his identity is taken for granted by art
historians. In fact, the name of Master Muhammed the Black Pen cannot be found among the
lists of celebrated painters of Persianate painting, compiled by contemporaneous historians,
and there is no other textual evidence that witnesses his existence other than the paintings
attributed to him. In an unknown sequence of events, Master Muhammed the Black Pen and
the qalam-siyahi painting style have come to be used interchangeably. Siyah means ‘black’
and qalam means ‘pen’ in Persian, making up the part of the painter’s name: Siyah Qalam.
However, qalam-siyahi is used the describe the style or the school of painting that uses pen
and ink paintings in Persianate tradition. Unlike what his name suggests, not all of the
paintings attributed to Master Muhammed the Black Pen are made in this style.
However, the questionable identity of their attributed painter is not the only aspect that
makes these paintings so mysterious and appealing to art historians and the public alike. These
paintings are also highly unique and peculiar in that they easily stand out within the more
homogenous body of Persianate painting. There are not many parallels of these paintings
within Persianate art, neither in terms of their themes, nor the style and technique. Within the
Topkapı Palace Museum’s collections, these four albums share a common feature of having
more foreign elements than other fifteenth or sixteenth century albums. However, rather than
being associated with a specific culture or visual language, Master Muhammed the Black
Pen’s paintings are treated as a mystery by the academic circles. Grabar argues that these
paintings are “in complete and violent contrast with […] the classical mode of Persian
painting.”28 Grube also points out the “incredibly individual quality” of his paintings: “…no
parallels [of which] have been found so far in the work of known ateliers elsewhere in the
Muslim world.”29 In this comment, Grube refers to “nomad” and “demon” themed paintings
attributed to Master Muhammed the Black Pen, disregarding the possibility that the “Chinese
27 Zeren Tanındı, “Some Problems of Two Istanbul Albums, H. 2153 and H. 2160,” in Islamic Art I, ed. Ernst J. Grube,
Eleanor G. Sims, and John Carswell, An Annual Dedicated to the Art and Culture of the Muslim World (NY: The Islamic
Art Foundation, 1981), 39.
28 Grabar, Mostly Miniatures : An Introduction to Persian Painting, 59.
29 Grube, “The Problem of the Istanbul Album Paintings,” 5.
北京大学硕士学位论文
12
style” paintings inscribed with his name could be his creations, saying that: “Nowhere in the
Muslim world is there any evidence that a single identifiable painter ever worked in so manyat
least five- different styles and techniques, even over a long period of time.”30 He highlights
that in the Islamic painting traditions, it was customary even for the greatest masters to hide
any individuality. Other scholars such as Gillard also comment on Master Muhammed the
Black Pen’s artistic creativity: “One cannot dissect Siyah Qalam [the Black Pen] into Chinese,
European, Timurid or Turkman parts; instead, a stylistic unit of purpose in them has broken
down their constituent sources into something new, independent and resolved.” 31 These
comments show that plenty of scholars agree that Master Muhammad the Black Pen’s
paintings (or more specifically “nomad” and “demon” themed paintings that are attributed to
him) also often fail at providing enough clues to be associated with certain culture-specific
symbolisms or folk tales. Both in terms of subject matter and painting style, they stand out
amongst the formulated artworks that came out of the fourteenth and fifteenth-century Central
Asian ateliers. However, this thesis will try to prove that although these paintings and motifs
that are often found in the Black Pen paintings are incredibly unique in style, the inspiration
behind their creation may be more just the artistic ingenuity of their creator. In the Istanbul
Albums, Master Muhammad the Black Pen’s peculiar paintings are presented side by side with
“Chinese Style” paintings. A number of these “Chinese Style” paintings are local (i.e., Persian)
reproductions, whether in the form of copying or reinterpretation. However, the albums also
include a number of genuine Ming dynasty artworks. Some of these “Chinese Style” paintings
also bear inscriptions that attribute them to Master Muhammad the Black Pen. Most notably,
a painting (H. 2153, folio 77a) that has been identified as a very close reproduction of the
Battle of the Changban 长坂坡之战scene from the popular Yuan dynasty woodblock printed
novel Sanguozhi 三国志 “Records of the Three Kingdoms” is inscribed with Master
Muhammad the Black Pen’s name. In his study, Lei shows the similarities between the folio
77a and a fourteenth-century dynasty copy of the popular novel 至治新刊全相平话三国志
Zhizhi Xinkan Quanxiang Pinghua Sanguozhi “Zhizhi New Edition of the Records of the
Three Kingdoms.” The gestures and stances of the warriors in the scene, as well as the war
equipment that they use, match almost identically.32 In Chapter 3 of this thesis, another
“Chinese Style” painting that has not yet attracted much scholarly attention will be explored
in further detail. This chapter will first focus on the Istanbul Albums in their entirety and
30 Grube, “The Problem of the Istanbul Album Paintings,” 4.
31 Lynda Gillard, “Siyah Qalam: New Perspectives,” Persica 15 (n.d.): 96, https://doi.org/10.2143/PERS.15.0.2003529.
32 Chuanyi Lei, “Akkoyunlu-Türkmen Yakub Bey Albümlerindeki Kalem-i Siyahî Resimlerinde Çin Etkisi [Chinese
Influence on the Qalam-Siyahi Paintings in the Albums of Aqqoyunlu Turkman Yaqub Beg]” (Master of Fine Arts,
Istanbul, Turkey, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf Üniversitesi, 2018), 87, 106-107.
Chapter 2: The Istanbul Albums as Entangled Things
13
question the rationale behind their compilers’ decision to bring together these “Chinese Style”
artworks and the unusual works of Master Muhammad the Black Pen together in a single
collection.
The first part of this chapter has introduced the Istanbul Albums are the painting style that
is associated with the semi-historical painter Master Muhammad the Black Pen. The next part
of this chapter will identify the Istanbul Albums as entangled things, using ideas inspired by
Hodder’s human-thing entanglement theory. According to Hodder, the entangled nature of
things can be analyzed based on four types of interactions in which they engage: thing-human,
human-thing, human-human, thing-thing. The section below will elaborate on these four types
of interactions and show how the entangledness of the Istanbul Albums can be analyzed using
this theory. The aim of this analysis is to express the complexity of the factors that play into
the meta-narrative that defines Persianate art and its cultural other created by the Istanbul
Albums.
First of all, according to human-thing entanglement theory, things depend on
humans (TH). TH interaction occurs in a number of ways. Humans interact with things to
create them, alter them, transport them and give them meaning. The Istanbul Albums are
patchworks of artworks that are brought together by a compiler who perceived these artworks
as objects that had the potential to come together and create a cohesive body. Then, these
things, i.e., paintings, were not only dependent on a human who commissioned them and one
who painted them, but also other humans who later found them and collected them,
inadvertently separating them from their original settings, and yet other ones that curated them
into a new whole, known as the Istanbul Albums. However, it is not only things that depend
on humans, but humans depend on things (HT) as well. This thesis argues that the Istanbul
Albums convey a meta-narrative that defines Persianate art and its cultural other. This metanarrative
depends on the humans (i.e., the painters and the compilers) who play a role in their
creation. After their creation, these albums gain the power to interact with humans in their
own right, changing the way they understand their contents. Perhaps the best commentary on
HT interaction comes from Dust Muhammad, who compiled the Istanbul Album H. 2154 and
wrote a preface to explain its significance: “Our works point to us, gaze after us in our
works.”33
The question, how a culture views its own artistic practices, relates to art historical
33 Quoted in David J. Roxburgh, “‘Our Works Point to Us’ Album Making, Collecting, and Art (1427-1565) Under the
Timurids and Safavids.” (Doctoral dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 1996), 264.
北京大学硕士学位论文
14
awareness of a culture. By asking this, we can also find out how a culture views artistic
practices that are not its own. Apart from considering foreign artworks novelties, what other
associations does it make? Does it consider the alien arts superior or inferior? Roxburgh’s
1996 doctoral dissertation “‘Our Works Point To Us’: Album Making, Collecting, and Art
(1427-1565) Under the Timurids and Safavids” is a detailed study of the Persianate album,
i.e., muraqqa making tradition as a collection practice. The collection element of the album
makes it similar to an exhibition that is bound between two covers, and in Roxburgh’s words,
microcosms.34 Each exhibition is an attempt at meaning-making. Just like exhibitions, albums
are also curated by their compilers, and by analyzing this collection, we can garner a more indepth
understanding of the art tradition that created it.35 Simon Sheikh explains the nature of
curating with these words: “All exhibition making is the making of a public, the imagination
of a world. It is therefore not a question of art for art’s sake or art for society, or of poetics or
politics, but rather a matter of understanding the politics of aesthetics and the aesthetic
dimension of politics.”36 Whether they are curating an exhibition, a collection, or an album,
every curator does so for an audience. Persianate albums were often created for an elite
audience, and they oftentimes made political statements. As mentioned in the Introduction
section, the art of the book was not a cheap one. Thus, they could only be commissioned by
entities who had access to not only the raw materials that made up the lavishly illustrated
paintings but also the specialized high-end labor that went into it. It was common for its
commissioners to have a statement to make through these books, whether the statement was
directly about them and their might, or about the culture and history to which they belonged.
This is a demonstration of humans depending on things, in this case, for meaning-making.
Therefore, the albums, as well as the illustrated books that they commissioned, held the
potential to shape the world around them and ideologically influenced their viewers by
extension through the power of narration (HT). Thus, it can be argued that as narrative tools
often funded by the ruling elite, illustrated manuscripts functioned as cultural Ideological State
Apparatuses (ISAs).37 Following the Marxist theory, Althusser defines ISAs as “a certain
number of realities which present themselves to the immediate observer in the form of distinct
and specialized institutions [...] which function predominantly by ideology.” According to
34 Roxburgh, “‘Our Works Point to Us’ Album Making, Collecting, and Art (1427-1565) Under the Timurids and
Safavids.,” 269; David J. Roxburgh, The Persian Album, 1400-1600: From Dispersal to Collection (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 2005), 35.
35 Roxburgh, The Persian Album, 1400-1600, 12–13.
36 Simon Sheikh, “Constitutive Effects: The Techniques of the Curator,” in Curating Subjects, ed. Paul O’Neill (London:
Open Editions, 2007), 174.
37 Louis Althusser, Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards Investigation), trans. Ben Brewster, Lenin
and Philosophy and Other Essays (NY: Monthly Review Press, 1971), 208.
Chapter 2: The Istanbul Albums as Entangled Things
15
Althusser, the ‘ruling class’ can only hold its power (over other classes) by exercising its
hegemony through ISAs.38 In fifteenth-century Central Asia, illustrated manuscripts were
more than fit to play this role. Works such as the Great Mongol Shahnameh is a testament to
this. Shahnameh is the national epic of Greater Iran, whose original script was written by the
Persian poet Ferdowsi (c. 940–1019/1025). Literally meaning “The Book of Kings” in Persian,
the Shahnameh is a long epic that outlines the history of the Persian Empire, including its
myths and legends. A number of illustrated shahnamehs were produced under the patronage
of the non-Persian rulers of the Ilkhanate.39 The Mongolian ruling elite’s participation in this
tradition shows their understanding of the Shahnameh’s symbolic power and cultural meaning.
On another aspect of HT interaction, it is also worth mentioning that humans identities
may also depend on things. After things have been created and given meaning by humans,
they start their journey of being utilized by humans until they are no longer seen as necessary
and discarded. For instance, the small-scale Song painting “Auspicious Cranes” was painted
in order to commemorate an auspicious occasion that took place in 1112. It is attributed to the
Song Emperor Huizong, who was a collector and a lover of the arts. This painting was probably
created as a part of a series that displayed all kinds of auspicious events that took place during
the rule of Emperor Huizong.40 As a thing, the painting “Auspicious Cranes” depended on
humans for its creation (TH). The well-recognized symbols of auspicious events, such as the
cranes that symbolized Heaven’s favor,41 also depended on humans for their invention (TH).
In turn, these symbols went on to inform other humans and convey messages to them. It is
through things, surely not only this thing, the painting “Auspicious Cranes,” but a great
collection of things including historical records, that we are aware of Emperor Huizong’s rule,
that he was keen on conveying the message that it was blessed by Heavens and that he was an
art lover. Our knowledge of Emperor Huizong and his personality depends on these historical
objects. Given that none of these historical things existed, we, as modern humans, would not
have known of a person called Emperor Huizong. And this would have greatly altered our
understanding of Song history. Surely, Emperor Huizong’s identity and existence are made
possible by a great number of things, which may seemingly lessen the significance of a single
thing, namely “Auspicious Cranes.” However, the historical information that we have on
Master Muhammad the Black Pen depends solely on about 80 paintings that are attributed to
him, or more specifically, 65 notations that establish the identity of the painter of those
38 Althusser, Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards Investigation), 207.
39 Hillenbrand, “The Arts of the Book in Ilkhanid Iran,” 135–36.
40 Clunas, Art in China, 57.
41 Clunas, Art in China, 57.
北京大学硕士学位论文
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paintings.42 Therefore, Master Muhammad the Black Pen as a painter depends on these things
to make his identity known to the modern viewers, and the modern viewers depend on the
things for the knowledge of Master Muhammad the Black Pen and the style of painting that
he represents. The viewers of the Istanbul Albums also depend on it in order to identify and
form an understanding of Persianate painting traditions as well as visual traditions that are
foreign to them. This research supports the argument that these albums might have served as
reference books for their contemporaneous audience that exhibited the arts of the cultural other.
Another interaction type Hodder talks about is humans depend on other humans (HH).
The notion that humans depend on humans is surely not unexpected. The way humans interact
with one another, and in extension, influence the material culture has been one of the most
common ways the material exchange has been studied. In the context of Persianate and
Chinese arts, when we talk about how the Mongol invasion paved the way for cultural
exchange between Persianate west Asia and Chinese east Asia, we are talking about this type
of interaction.
On a different layer of this analysis, we can also argue that humans depend on other
humans to interpret and attach meaning to things. Roxburgh’s 2001 publication “Prefacing the
Image: The Writing of Art History in Sixteenth-Century Iran” builds on his doctoral
dissertation, exploring the album prefaces (dibacha) and art historiographical understanding
in the sixteenth-century Iran through them. He designates the tradition of preface writing as
early attempts in art historiographical writing in Persian cultures and recognizing their role in
expressing a culture’s views on its practices of art and its criteria of artistic judgment.43 His
2005 publication “Persian Album, 1400-1600: from dispersal to collection”44 is a seminal
work where he dissects the commonplace practice of collecting paintings and drawings in the
album format. Roxburgh explains that Persian art historians’ and connoisseurs’ art-historical
understanding was considerably shallower in comparison to their Chinese counterparts.
Persianate art historical writing is rare, and its contents are not exhaustive.45 Prefaces to
Persian albums are original essays of art-historical nature, written by their compilers. By
nature, they attempt at a direct HH interaction, as their authors engage the readers in order to
convey a message to them. As art-historical writing is rare in Persianate culture, these prefaces
are one of the most important pieces of primary sources that further our understanding of the
art-historical consciousness of middle age Persianate communities. In the absence of the album
42 Robinson, “Siyah Qalam,” 63.
43 Roxburgh, Prefacing the Image, 2.
44 Roxburgh, The Persian Album, 1400-1600.
45 Roxburgh, Prefacing the Image, 9–10.
Chapter 2: The Istanbul Albums as Entangled Things
17
prefaces, the contents of the collections themselves become the only conveyers of the message
carried by these albums. In this case, analyzing how and why these paintings were grouped
together and how can give us a direct insight into the mindset of art practitioners who created
and perused these albums.
In his book, “Chinese Painting and Its Audiences,” Cahill talks about an original Chinese
painting in the H.2154 album: “Two Ming military officials,” along with the accompanying
horse painting on recto (H.2154, folios 33b–34a). He calls this painting “the earliest surviving
‘Chinese painting.’”46 He goes on to explain that his intention is not to claim that no paintings
were done in China prior to this painting; on the contrary, Chinese painting traditions go as far
as the Neolithic (c.5000-3000). However, prior to this image, which bears an inscription that
reads, “These paintings are from the collection of good works by the Chinese masters,” no
other contemporaneous artists from China would think of using the word ‘Chinese’ to describe
neither themselves nor their paintings. According to Cahill, this is the first painting to be
described as ‘Chinese’ in writing, making it the first ‘Chinese painting.’47 This is an interesting
approach that emphasizes the importance of all three interactions that this chapter has talked
about so far. ‘Chinese painting’ as a thing (or rather concept) depends on humans to describe
it as such. Humans depend on other humans and things that belong to other humans to reflect
on their own culture and gain cultural awareness.
The next type of interaction is: things depend on other things (TT). This type of
interaction is perhaps the most unique and most important component of Hodder’s
interpretation of the thing theory and human-thing entanglement. Things interact with one
another, and their interaction, in turn, manipulates the way they interact with humans who
depend on these things. An application of these inter-thing relations48 to this study of the
Istanbul Albums will support the argument that the paintings that make up these albums came
together to create a certain meta-narrative. As mentioned earlier in this thesis, Master
Muhammad the Black Pen may or may not be a real person. And even if he is, many of the
paintings that are attributed to him in writing are most likely not his. There are a few different
categories and a few different hands that can be easily observed when analyzing the so-called
Master Muhammad the Black Pen paintings. Then, would these paintings be attributed to the
same painter if they were not a part of the same compilation? For instance, if Tanındı’s
46 Clunas, Chinese Painting and Its Audiences, 10.
47 Clunas, Chinese Painting and Its Audiences, 12.
48 Reinhard Bernbeck et al., “Entangled Discussions: Talking with Ian Hodder About His Book Entangled,” Forum
Kritische Archäologie 3 (2014): 153, https://doi.org/10.6105/JOURNAL.FKA.2014.3.11.
北京大学硕士学位论文
18
tentative attribution of the majority of these notations to Ottoman sultan Ahmed I is accurate
(see page 10), then we can argue that had these paintings not come together in the right place
at the right time, i.e., the seventeenth century, Topkapı Palace, they would not have received
these inscriptions. Would the two distinct groups of paintings both attributed to the mysterious
painter in writing, namely the paintings that depict the daily lives of Central Asian nomads or
dervishes and the demon paintings, be grouped together if they had not borne the same
inscription? Would each and every one of these paintings appear as exotic had they not been
a part of an album that brought together numerous other culturally foreign images? Things
within the Istanbul Albums interact with one another to create a holistic meaning or a metanarrative
that shapes the perception of its historical Persianate audience, as well as the
contemporaneous audiences who recognize them as unusual, unique, or exotic.
Figure 2 Folio 88B from TSMK H.2153. (Image credit: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum
Library, Istanbul)
Things that were once a part of the albums can also be forcefully displaced. Figure 2 shows
folio 88B from H. 2153. On this folio, a painting of three demons (attributed to the Black Pen)
is placed in a three-part composition; however, the element on the lower left was ripped off of
the folio. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon occurrence. Not only the Istanbul Albums,
but many other manuscripts and albums in the Ottoman archives sustained similar damages,
especially during the turbulent times towards the end of the Ottoman Empire. Some paintings
that were removed from manuscripts and albums survive and resurface in various museums
and collections around the world. However, it is possible that the connections between these
displaced paintings and the rest of the manuscript that they were once a part of, are lost forever.
As things that depend on other things, this displacement can cost them a part of their history.
Chapter 2: The Istanbul Albums as Entangled Things
19
This is not the only type of displacement that the illustrated manuscripts go through. With
the invention of various printing techniques and the consequent practicality of reproducing
and distributing illustrated books, the importance attached to the illustrated manuscripts of the
ancient world has diminished for the modern viewer. As collection items, original illustrated
manuscripts are often displayed under glass displays at museums exposing only a single
illustrated spread at a time, rendering the rest of the manuscript (text and illustrations alike)
inaccessible to most of the viewers. And in fact, that is the best-case scenario, as most
illustrated manuscripts were not preserved in their entirety for them to be displayed in this
manner. Instead, many illustrated manuscripts were disassembled by their pre-modern
collectors, causing pages of a manuscript or a muraqqa to be dispersed among different
collectors and end up in the collections of different museums, sometimes continents apart. As
things depend on things, the identity and the meaning of these things change immensely
according to the conditions in which they are exhibited. These dispersed pages are often
displayed just like a European painting: framed and hung on the wall, with its more remarkable
side facing the audience. The display methods of illustrated manuscripts have been a matter
that is widely discussed by contemporary art historians. In addition, visiting museum
collections is not how most twenty-first-century scholars get into their first contact with these
illustrated manuscripts. The chances are that most people access these images thanks to their
facsimile copies or images in art history books. Most of these images are cropped-out versions
of the original illustration and fail to give a complete impression of the size, page design,
narrative context, or even the overall artistic quality. Some monographs attempt to rectify this
problem by providing true-to-size, high-quality printed copies of illustrated manuscripts. In
“The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Production,” Walter Benjamin talks extensively
about photography and printing technologies in relation to the depreciation of the cult value
of an artwork. According to Benjamin, works of art that are experienced through their
mechanically reproduced counterparts, i.e., photographs or printed copies, inherently lose their
cult value and are reduced to their exhibition value. Just as visiting the Great Wall of China is
a distinctively different experience from seeing it in a video, seeing a Picasso in person is also
different from seeing a picture of it in an art history book. Thus, the meaning of the Great Wall
of China or a Picasso painting, as things, depend on the other things that are used to represent
them. And according to Benjamin, more often than not, the meaning conveyed by their
reproduction is a diminished one. However, when it comes to illustrated manuscripts, it is
quite possible to come up with a different conclusion. Today, the original illustrated
manuscripts are removed from libraries where they belong and placed under the glass displays
北京大学硕士学位论文
20
in museums in order to protect and preserve them. On the contrary, mechanically reproduced
printed copies give the modern audience an unparalleled opportunity to hold these art objects
in their hands, flip their pages and view them as they were intended to be viewed. Then, we
argue that, ironically, mechanically reproduced copies of illustrated manuscripts may retain
more of their cult value or their aura, considering their physical unity and compatibility with
the space in which they are kept. Benjamin defines aura as a “unique phenomenon of distance
however close it may be” and asserts that unapproachability is a major quality of the cult image.
Unapproachability is undeniably not only a physical phenomenon but also a mental one.
Museums do not only decontextualize manuscripts but also indirectly censor a majority of
their content. Even the privileged few, who are allowed to examine an original manuscript in
its entirety, are often required to do it with the help of trained staff whose tasks may consist of
but are not limited to changing the pages for the viewer. Then, can we say that these arbitrarily
fragmented illustrated manuscripts do maintain their original aura, as they remain
unapproachable within the museum context, directly locked away under a glass display?
Following Benjamin, these mediated objects lose their cult value and are reduced to their
exhibition value. On the other hand, a mechanically reproduced copy concedes its physical
unapproachability in order to maintain its integrity. It is quite a dilemma how an unauthentic
facsimile copy of an illustrated manuscript may reproduce an arguably more authentic
experience that the original manuscript cannot.
However, when it comes to muraqqas, the limitations caused by our inability to
experience the artwork in its entirety are not experienced as vividly. On the surface, each
artwork seems to be independent of one another. Therefore, they are often treated as separate
things that do not interact with one another. This tendency needs to be challenged. According
to the entanglement concept outlined above, these things (i.e., the artworks in the albums as
well as the albums themselves) depend on each other and influence one another. Thanks to
their compilation, they have become entangled things, only to get forcibly disentangled when
viewed by modern audiences. Thus, even the method of display or reproduction of an
illustrated manuscript or muraqqa plays an important role in revealing or altering its true
meaning and identity.
Apart from these four interaction types, Hodder also states that things are “not isolated,”
“not inert,” “endure over different temporalities,” “often appear as non-things,” and that these
characteristics often get ignored. The Istanbul Albums are not isolated because, as outlined
earlier, they depend on humans, who created, transported, discarded, dispersed, and compiled
them or parts of them. Humans, in turn, depend on them and the narrative and information that
Chapter 2: The Istanbul Albums as Entangled Things
21
they convey. Things also depend on one another. Inter-dependency of things can often be
overlooked and thus must be emphasized. The Istanbul Albums are not just objects in
themselves; they hold visual elements, cultural insights, and artistic information. These are
also things, and they depend on each other in order to endure time and pass on. The Istanbul
Albums are not inert, in the way that they have undergone a range of changes during their
lifetime. To begin with, they are made up of displaced things; they have been compiled, altered,
recompiled, deteriorated, damaged, repaired, dispersed, and brought together. But, in addition
to their material aspect, the information that they carry is not inert either.
In conclusion, this chapter showed how human-thing entanglement theory can be used to
analyze the Istanbul Albums as material things. By being grouped together, the paintings that
make up the Istanbul Albums gained additional meaning and significance. Muraqqas, just like
illustrated manuscripts, are things that have the potential to convey a certain narrative.
However, as they lack literary stories that frame their illustrations, their narratives may not be
obvious to the viewers, who may not have the chance to observe them in their entirety.
Therefore, these analyses aimed to reveal that the Istanbul Albums as entangled objects of
artistic curation have played a role in shaping the perceptions of their contemporaneous
audiences on what Persianate art looks like, as well as what foreign artistic traditions look like.
They also influenced the narratives of modern scholars on the influences of Chinese art on the
Persianate painting traditions.
Chapters 3 and 4 of this thesis will talk about the cross-cultural influences that played a
role in creating the visual language of the paintings within the Istanbul Albums, emphasizing
the entanglement of these exchanges. On the other hand, the things that were exchanged
endured differently. In some cases, the meanings and the narratives were lost. However, the
visual elements remained. In some other cases, although the narratives remained, they were
assimilated into the receiving culture.
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Chapter 3: Disentangling the History of Artistic Exchanges
Between Persianate and Chinese Cultures
This thesis prefers the use of the neologism Persianate to describe the art and culture
created by the Islamic civilizations of West and Central Asia between the fourteenth and
eighteenth centuries when the Persian influence reached its zenith.49 In the context of this
thesis, Persianate painting refers to the manuscript illustrations, also called miniatures, created
by Persianate communities in western and central Asia. Although Persianate communities also
made wall paintings, these were relatively rare in comparison to the plentitude of illustrated
manuscripts. In this context, Persianate paintings mainly served narrative and decorative
functions within illustrated manuscripts.
The term Persianate refers to a culture, society, and its products that were created under
strong Persian influence. Persianate art was not always created by people who identified
themselves as Persian or claimed Persian heritage. Along with Arabic, the Persian language
was one of the lingua francas of the Islamic world. By the fifteenth century, its geographical
and social reach extended from China to the Balkans.50 A number of West and Central Asian
states adapted it as their administrative language as well as the language of literature, art, and
education. As the Persian language spread, so did the influence of the Persian culture. Its works
of literature were also written and adapted by different communities. Greater Persia’s national
epic, the Shahnameh, or ‘The Book of Kings’, is one of the most significant examples. Written
by the tenth-century poet Ferdowsi, it was initially created as a semi-mythical, semi-historical
epic that recounted the history of Persia. In the consequent centuries, it was adapted by and
appropriated into other cultural contexts as well. For example, the Great Mongol Shahnameh
is a fourteenth-century manuscript produced in the Mongol-ruled Persianate state, the
Ilkhanate. It worked to legitimize the Mongolian rule over an ethnic and cultural Persian
community. As the oldest surviving illustrated copy of the Shahnameh, it is a remarkable
example of early period Persianate painting that was created under the patronage of an
ethnically non-Persian, however culturally Persianate ruling elite.
The term Islamic painting is sometimes used interchangeably with Persianate painting or
Persian miniature. However, the usage of this term over-emphasizes the religious nature of
49 Nile Green, “Introduction,” in The Persianate World, ed. Nile Green, 1st ed., The Frontiers of a Eurasian Lingua Franca
(University of California Press, 2019), 1, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvr7fdrv.7.
50 Green, “Introduction,” 1.
Chapter 3: Disentangling the History of Artistic Exchanges Between Persianate and Chinese Cultures
23
these artworks, even though a significant portion of them had secular themes. However, it is
not to deny that the practitioners and patrons of this art genre were members of the Islamic
world. Islamic religion and culture played an important role in the development of the art of
the book in West and Central Asia. Bookmaking traditions commenced as early as the ninth
century thanks to the interest in creating copies of the Koran. However, the Korans were not
illustrated with pictures but rather adorned with masterful calligraphy in the Arabic language
and decorative elements.51 The advent of paper in the Middle East, which arrived from China
in the second half of the eighth century and rapidly became the preferred medium for
bookmaking, taking over expensive parchment, was another watershed event for the art of the
book.52 As the availability of raw materials increased, so did the number of manuscripts and
the variety of their themes. By the end of the twelfth century, works with secular themes
became more and more common, and it was often these secular stories that were decorated
with narrative illustrations. Their illustrations varied in technical quality, depending on the
time and finances invested in them by their creators and their patrons.
Requiring specialized skills and time-consuming manual labor for each step of its creation,
from the manufacturing of raw materials, such as paper, or paint made of natural pigments, to
the design and execution of their elaborate paintings, illustrated manuscripts were results of
collaborative effort. As the art of the book advanced and the book contents became more
elaborate, their production also became increasingly institutionalized. Kitabkhanas (library in
Persian), which prior to the fourteenth century were mainly libraries where precious and
lavishly designed manuscripts were collected, assumed their new function as workshops. In
these workshops, the student painters and bookmakers were trained in the style of their masters;
their manuscript collections also served as reference libraries for the trainee artists of these
workshops. The biggest kitabkhanas that are known to us today had royal patrons and
produced books for the court. 53 As portable multimedia tools with narrative purpose,
illustrated manuscripts held an undeniable power of being able to disseminate information and
to do so in a captivating and effective way. The fifteenth-century Persianate manuscripts
created by royal studios are the pinnacle of the art of illustrated manuscript making. According
to Mu Hongyan 穆宏燕, these royal studios were institutions that were introduced to West
Asia, or more specifically to the Ilkhanate, through Mongolians.54 They were highly structured
51 Hillenbrand, “The Arts of the Book in Ilkhanid Iran,” 135–37.
52 Oleg Grabar, Masterpieces of Islamic Art: The Decorated Page from the 8th to the 17th Century (Munich ; New York:
Prestel, 2009), 34.
53 Grabar, Masterpieces of Islamic Art, 39.
54 Mu Hong-yan 穆宏燕, “Zhongguo Gongting Huayuan Tizhi dui Yisilan Ximihua Yishu Fazhan de Yingxiang ‘中国宫廷
画院体制对伊斯兰细密画艺术发展的影响’ [The Influence of the Chinese System of Court Painting Academy on the
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institutions, and many artists who worked in them were specialists on only one or a few steps
of manuscript production. Their duties are known to be very specific, and even the renowned
masters of miniature painting are known to have specialties, even though they were also
competent in other aspects as well. For example, one of the most celebrated Persian painters
and the head of the royal ateliers in Herat and Tabriz, Behzad (c. 1450 – c. 1535), was known
to specialize in painting beards.55
Figure 3 Alexander judges between the Greek and Chinese painters; Khamsa of Nizami, TSMK H.
753, fol. 304a. (Image credit: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul)
The Iskandar-nāma section of Nizami’s the Khamsa (Quintet) recounts a story about a
competition between the Greek (Rumi) and Chinese (Chini) artists (Fig. 3). In this story,
Alexander the Great requests Chinese and Greek masters to settle the dispute over the
comparative excellence of Chinese and Greek visual traditions by holding a contest. According
to this contest, each group of masters will exhibit their skills on the opposing walls of a room,
and Alexander will be the judge to decide which one is the superior visual tradition among the
two. When the moment of reveal finally arrives, Alexander is perplexed as he finds himself
Development of Islamic Miniature Art],” Journal of Hui Muslim Minority Studies 97, no. 1 (2015),
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004.
55 Grabar, Masterpieces of Islamic Art, 39.
Chapter 3: Disentangling the History of Artistic Exchanges Between Persianate and Chinese Cultures
25
facing two identical paintings across one another. However, it is soon understood that as the
Greek artists painted the wall, the Chinese artists polished it to create a perfectly reflective
surface that mirrors the painting created by the Greek artists. According to different renditions
of this story, the excellence of the two visual traditions is judged differently. In Nizami’s
version, Alexander judges the Chinese superior in polishing and the Greeks in painting.56 This
judgment interpretation carries Platonic undertones, as Nizami continues by arguing that
painting is nothing but deception.57 This argument makes a reference to Plato’s “Allegory of
the Cave” and compares paintings to the Platonic ‘Shadows’ that are pale reflections of ‘Ideas’.
Other Persian historians, such as Ghazali and Rumi, also interpret the Chinese artists’ action
as a symbolic act, comparing them to Sufi philosophers who polish their hearts to reflect
God.58
This anecdote that was written by the twelfth-century Persian poet Nizami (c. 1141–
1209) to reflect Persianate and Islamic ideals regarding painting, emphasizes the virtue of
using art as a means of mirroring as opposed to creating. However, in some ways, this story
can also serve as an analogy for cross-cultural exchanges of the visual arts. Artistic traditions
to which we often ascribe national affiliations are often products of transmissions and
transformations that take place through constant mirroring and distortion between different
cultures.
This story also provides modern historians a rare opportunity to peer inside the mindsets
of ancient Persianate scholars such as Nizami. In this story, Nizami praises the Chinese artists’
philosophical understanding of art and their acknowledgment of art as reflection. This
appraisal stands witness to how ancient Persian scholars understood and judged Chinese arts.
The paths of Ancient Chinese and Persian cultures have crossed many times in history.
However, these periods of intersection were not enough for these two cultures to thoroughly
acclimate to one another as they remained as a cultural other to one another in many ways.
The compiler of the album H. 2154 Dust Muhammad, who is a sixteenth-century Persian
painter, calligrapher, and art historian, names “picture-making in the lands of China and
Franks” (franks refer to Europeans) as one of the origins of Persian painting traditions in the
album H. 2154’s preface.59 Another sixteenth-century Persian calligrapher and art historian
56 Roxburgh, “‘Our Works Point to Us’ Album Making, Collecting, and Art (1427-1565) Under the Timurids and
Safavids.,” 343.
57 Gregory Minissale, “Painting Awareness: A Study into the Use of Exotic Cultural Traditions by the Artists of the
Emperor Akbar’s Khamsa of Nizami” (Doctoral dissertation, UK, SOAS, University of London, 2000), 196.
58 Roxburgh, “‘Our Works Point to Us’ Album Making, Collecting, and Art (1427-1565) Under the Timurids and
Safavids.,” 344.
59 Roxburgh, Prefacing the Image, 232.
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Mir Sayyid Ahmad give this honor to “sorcerers of China and Europe.”60 All of these examples
show that Persians did not only admire Chinese visual traditions but also recognized their
contributions to the development of their artistic traditions.
Cultural exchanges between the cultures of West and Central Asia and the Chinese
civilization can be traced back to the pre-Islamic periods. However, the first important episode
of cultural exchange took place during the golden age of commercial trade and exchange on
the Silk Roads in the Tang dynasty (618-907). It was during this period that intricate and
efficient networks of the exchange connected China all the way to the western regions of Asia
and Europe through Central Asia, creating an unprecedented environment favorable to cultural
cross-fertilization. The second important episode of cultural exchange was not a result of
commerce but of warfare. During the thirteenth century, armies of Genghiz Khan (c. 1158 –
1227) invaded most of Asia (excluding India and Southeast Asia), as well as a large part of
eastern Europe, creating the largest contiguous land empire in history in the span of a few
decades. These invasions that brought extensive destruction consequently resulted in the socalled
Pax Mongolica —the Mongolian Peace— and the stability which it brought allowed
these regions to thrive eventually. The political stability was followed by economic welfare,
and the economic welfare, along with the diverse cultural exchange, allowed the local arts and
cultures to prosper. During this time period, China became more directly linked to the
Persianate culture and the Islamic world than it had ever been.
There are many contemporary scholars who show interest in the interaction and artistic
exchange between these two civilizations. In an article titled “The tenacity of Persian culture
from the perspective of miniature painting,” Mu Hongyan 穆宏燕 argues that “…as it is
accepted by all, that miniature painting was influenced by Chinese gongbi painting…”61 a few
paragraphs later, she adds that “…it is also clear that Buddhist art has also influenced miniature
painting…” 62 Introduction paragraph to “Miniature Painting” chapter in Yuka Kadoi’s
doctoral dissertation reads: “There is general agreement among Islamic art historians about
the Chinese contributions to the development of Iranian painting, notably to the establishment
of the style of the Mongol school.”63 Although there are scholarly works that recognize and
study these influences, there also seems to be an imbalance in the extant scholarship where
60 Roxburgh, Prefacing the Image, 237.
61 Mu Hong-yan 穆宏燕, “Cong Ximihua kan Yilang Wenhua de Wanqiangxing ‘从细密画看伊朗文化的顽强性’ [The
tenacity of Persian culture from the perspective of miniature painting],” “Dongjiang Xuekan” ‘东疆学刊’ [Dongjiang
Journal] 19:1 (2002): 101.
62 Mu Hong-yan 穆宏燕, “Cong Ximihua kan Yilang Wenhua de Wanqiangxing ‘从细密画看伊朗文化的顽强性’ [The
tenacity of Persian culture from the perspective of miniature painting],” 102.
63 Yuka Kadoi, “Aspects of Iranian Art Under the Mongols: Chinoiserie Reappraised” (Ph.D. Thesis, University of
Edinburgh, 2004), 166.
Chapter 3: Disentangling the History of Artistic Exchanges Between Persianate and Chinese Cultures
27
Chinese impact is either taken for granted or ignored altogether. In many academic sources
concerning Persianate miniature paintings and illustrated manuscripts, the possibility of
Chinese influence merely gets mentioned in passing, if mentioned at all. Moreover, if an
influence is mentioned, it is often perceived as limited to specific ornamental/figural design
elements, such as clouds and dragons. This becomes an even more striking issue while
investigating possible influences of the Persianate art and culture on Chinese painting. These
inconsistencies in the existing literature are less than satisfactory and stem from the fact that
most Chinese paintings or Persianate paintings are studied in isolation, without paying
attention to their cross-cultural connections. This thesis argues that comparative approaches
are fruitful scholarly endeavors. It also suggests that by studying the entangled nature of these
cross-cultural interactions, we can start to disentangle them.
There are a number of “Chinese Style” paintings in the Istanbul Albums, and a portion of
them are attributed to Master Muhammed the Black Pen. Some of them, on the other hand,
bear the inscription “kar-i khitay” which means that the work is attributed to an unknown
Chinese artist. Some of these “Chinese Style” paintings are indeed originals. In the same study
where 54 paintings from the Istanbul Albums were reproduced, Loehr identifies six of these
as Chinese originals, including “Two Ming Mandarins”64 (according to Loehr, this is a
painting “executed with the meticulous detail and inimitable ease of the professional Chinese
artist”65), “Three Chan Eccentrics”66 (Loehr describes this as “an early Ming folk art” and “a
Chinese original of a most mediocre kind”67), “Buddhist Guardian King”(Loehr identifies the
warrior figure in the painting as one of the Lokapalas, a genuine Chinese work of late Yuan
or early Ming. He also notes that this painting is attributed to Khitay (Chinese) artists in
Persian language calligraphy.68), “Two Taoist Immortals”69 (Loehr identifies the subjects of
this painting as Daoist immortals Liu Hai 刘海and Li Tieguai 李铁拐. He also notes that the
unrestrained style of this painting is comparable to an anonymous Ming painting of Liu Hai
in the Palace Museum collection70), “Youth in Attitude of Prayer” (Loehr speculates that this
painting could be made the same artist as the “Buddhist Guarding King"), “Bird on a
64 Yusen Yu also studied this painting in “Representing Ming China in Fifteenth-Century Persianate Painting,”. In this
paper, Yu offers a more in-depth analysis of the painting, including comparing it to its Persian copies, also included in the
albums.
65 Max Loehr, “The Chinese Elements in the Istanbul Miniatures,” Ars Orientalis, 1954, 88.
66 Also see Paramita Paul, “The Eccentrics of Istanbul: Chan, Art, and Cross-Asian Networks in the Ming,” 9
67 Loehr, “The Chinese Elements in the Istanbul Miniatures,” 89.
68 Loehr, “The Chinese Elements in the Istanbul Miniatures,” 86–87.
69 For more information on this painting see Miki Homma, “The Influence of Chinese Art on Persian Paintings in the Saray
and Diez Albums,” Waseda Rilas Journal 5, no. 0 (2017): 242–45.
70 Loehr, “The Chinese Elements in the Istanbul Miniatures,” 86.
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Flowering Plum Branch.” In addition to these, Loehr identifies eighteen Persian paintings that
depend on Chinese subject matters or Chinese painting styles in varying degrees, and three
direct copies of Chinese paintings. Among the 54 paintings published in this study, there are
two images that are also a part of this study: figure 7 and figure 14. Neither of these two images
is among the 27 images that Loehr argues to have varying degrees of Chinese influence.
Animal depictions occupy a significant space in the paintings in the Istanbul Albums. This
is hardly surprising as animal symbolism is very popular in Islamic and Persianate art.
However, many animal-related compositions in the Istanbul Albums stand out as unusual. In
Islamic arts, animal depictions are often included as narrative elements, rather than
independent compositions. They are often found in books that illustrate bestiaries, scientific
treatises, fables, and battle scenes.71 However, in the case of the Istanbul Albums, many of
these animal-related compositions appear as independent paintings, and some of them even
show attempts at realistic portrayal. These paintings often also lack the background and
foreground ornamentations that are typical of Persianate art and are instead placed on a
completely empty background. Many scholars, such as Sugimura72, Homma73 , and Cahill74
observed that these so-called unusual features are notably Chinese in nature. “Bird on a
Flowering Plum Branch” that is given in the previous paragraph is one of these paintings. This
painting is inscribed with the Persian words: “This is from the aggregate of the superior works
of the superior masters of Cathay,” by its owner or the compiler of the album. However, Loehr
calls its authenticity into question. Although treasured as a superior work by its Persian patron,
to Loehr, the quality of this painting is so low that it cannot possibly belong to a Chinese
master. He also notes that the painter of this composition did not use the right symbolism,
which would be evident to any artist who is well-versed in Chinese culture. Thus, he argues
that it is more likely that it is a product of a non-Chinese artist who copied or interpreted an
original.75 This Chinese-style pastoral painting is one of many that are found in the Istanbul
Albums. The illustration catalog published in the Islamic Art I includes at least 22 “flowers
and birds” compositions.76 There are also four Chinese-style compositions with ducks as their
central motif.77 However, although this catalog of the Istanbul Albums is the most extensive
71 Sugimura, “The Chinese Impact on Certain Fifteenth Century Persian Miniature Paintings from the Albums (Hazine
Library Nos. 2153, 2154, 2160) in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum, Istanbul,” 9–10.
72 Sugimura, “The Chinese Impact on Certain Fifteenth Century Persian Miniature Paintings from the Albums (Hazine
Library Nos. 2153, 2154, 2160) in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum, Istanbul.”
73 Homma, “The Influence of Chinese Art on Persian Paintings in the Saray and Diez Albums.”
74 Cahill, “Some Alternative Sources for Archaistic Elements in the Paintings of Qian Xuan and Zhao Mengfu.”
75 Loehr, “The Chinese Elements in the Istanbul Miniatures,” 87.
76 Figs. 110-118, 120-126, 134-137,139, 141 in Grube, Sims, and Carswell, eds., Islamic Art I.
77 Figs. 165, 168, 169, 171in Grube, Sims, and Carswell, eds., Islamic Art I.
Chapter 3: Disentangling the History of Artistic Exchanges Between Persianate and Chinese Cultures
29
one available to the public, it is not exhaustive. Homma’s study reproduces five eagle paintings
and compares them to jiaying tu架鹰图 (“eagle on a perch”) pictorial motif common in the
Ming dynasty.78
There are also numerous “Chinese style” human figure paintings in the Istanbul Albums,
apart from the animal-related compositions. A number of studies offer comparisons between
these paintings and Chinese paintings that are contemporaneous or antecedent. In his article
“Representing Ming China in Fifteenth-Century Persianate Painting,” Yusen Yu analyzes the
paintings of “Two Ming military officials” in H. 2153 fol.150a, fol.123a, and H.2154 fol.33b,
showing that they are Persian or Central Asian copies based on a Ming original.79 The same
goes for many other paintings in the Istanbul Albums, such as the “Chinese maidens” painting
in H.2153, fol.146b.80 The reproductions show signs of localizations, such as applying colors
in higher contrast to cater to the local aesthetics.81 These significant observations prove that
painters who worked outside China proper had immediate access to Chinese paintings, or
perhaps woodblock prints to serve as reference material to them.
Researcher and traditional artist Lei follows an innovative approach in analyzing the
painting style and brushwork in the Istanbul Albums H. 2153 and H. 2160. Lei's background
as an artist who is trained in traditional Chinese Painting allowed him to reproduce a number
of Istanbul Album paintings, comparing their painting technique to the Chinese bai-miao 白
描 and shan-shui 山水 painting styles. As a result of his research, Lei found substantial
similarities between Yuan and Ming woodblock prints and paintings in the albums. Lei’s study
categorizes these paintings as qalam-siyahi, (“pen and ink painting” in Persian), embracing
traditional shorthand given to them, and identifies this genre as a form of chinoiserie.82
Toh Sugimura puts emphasis on how major concepts that pertain to the Chinese paintings,
such as their historical, religious, or literary intertextuality, are entirely discarded or replaced
by West Asian painters who use these paintings as mere visual inspirations.83 Thus, he claims
that while the visual language disperses, ideas, concepts, myths, and stories do not see the
same treatment. The present thesis largely draws upon this concept of partial diffusion of
visual symbolism. The final product that we find in west Asian miniature painting utilizes
78 Figs. 20, 23-26 in Homma, “The Influence of Chinese Art on Persian Paintings in the Saray and Diez Albums,” 253–57.
79 Yu, “Representing Ming China in Fifteenth-Century Persianate Painting,” 61–64.
80 Yu, “Representing Ming China in Fifteenth-Century Persianate Painting,” 68.
81 Yu, “Representing Ming China in Fifteenth-Century Persianate Painting,” 62.
82 Lei, “Akkoyunlu-Türkmen Yakub Bey Albümlerindeki Kalem-i Siyahî Resimlerinde Çin Etkisi [Chinese Influence on
the Qalam-Siyahi Paintings in the Albums of Aqqoyunlu Turkman Yaqub Beg],” 145–47.
83 Sugimura, “The Chinese Impact on Certain Fifteenth Century Persian Miniature Paintings from the Albums (Hazine
Library Nos. 2153, 2154, 2160) in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum, Istanbul,” 302.
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Chinese visual elements while discarding their meaning that is specific to Chinese culture.84
This way, “[…] the generalization of the specific literary-historical theme is enhanced by the
elimination of alien and heterogeneous elements from it according to the taste […]”85
The concept of trans-cultural diffusion was developed in the nineteenth century as an
answer to the question: Why does a material culture change? The concepts of migration and
cultural diffusion have continued to be the answer for traditional anthropologists and
archaeologists from the late nineteenth century to the 1960s. The concepts of diffusion and
migration both assume that a superior or dominant culture influences the culture of a
neighboring group. With the development of the processual approach in the 1960s,
migrationist and diffusionist explanations have lost their popularity. However, it is still easy
to see the remnants of these traditional approaches in many fields concerning history.86 A
considerable amount of academic research that deals with the cultural interactions between
west Asia and east Asia also makes use of the concepts of migration and cultural diffusion.
The previous paragraph exemplifies how Sugimura relies on the diffusionist explanation and
designates China as the cultural giver, the Middle East as the cultural receiver, and Central
Asia as the mediator or transmitter.87 However, he carefully admits that this designation is
only out of practical consideration and only pertinent to the time period he is focusing on,
namely the fifteenth century.88 However, regardless of admitting its limitations, Sugimura’s
explanation relies heavily on the concepts of migration and cultural diffusion.
As these studies show, the visual elements found in the Istanbul Albums traveled from
east Asia, specifically from domains that were heavily under Chinese influence, to West Asia,
where they got integrated into the Persianate cultures. However, it is most likely that many of
these elements were taken from Chinese culture at their face value. This meant that while
Chinese images were copied by artists of Central Asian or Persian origins, their symbolic
meanings and the narratives that they represented were forgotten or replaced by Persianate
ones, which were more familiar to the receiving audience. Moreover, many of these images
that were reintroduced to West Asia as Chinese painting may have had origins in West and
Central Asian visual traditions. There is enough evidence to suggest that the artistic exchanges
84 Sugimura, “The Chinese Impact on Certain Fifteenth Century Persian Miniature Paintings from the Albums (Hazine
Library Nos. 2153, 2154, 2160) in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum, Istanbul,” 5.
85 Sugimura, “The Chinese Impact on Certain Fifteenth Century Persian Miniature Paintings from the Albums (Hazine
Library Nos. 2153, 2154, 2160) in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum, Istanbul,” 303.
86 Colin Renfrew and Paul Bahn, Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice, 6th ed. (London: Thames & Hudson,
2012), 463–64.
87 Sugimura, 6.
88 Sugimura, 5.
Chapter 3: Disentangling the History of Artistic Exchanges Between Persianate and Chinese Cultures
31
between Chinese and Persianate cultures were not merely linear, and the process of
transmission and transformation included several stages. 89 Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt
hypothesizes that Tang dynasty images were imitated and mixed with local traditions by
Central Asian peoples and then migrated westward “under the guise of Chinese painting
tradition.”90 It is then possible for these chinoiserie paintings created by indigenous peoples
of Central Asia to have reentered China as ‘archaic’ imagery under the influence of Mongols
during the Yuan dynasty.91
It has been a prevailing argument by contemporary art historians that artistic
exchanges between Western and Eastern Asia have taken place in both ways and in multiple
stages. During this cyclical process of transmission and reintroduction, some Persianate
elements that are not native to Chinese culture may have been introduced and become part of
the mainstream Chinese culture with their origins forgotten.
Having assessed the general framework of cultural exchanges and amalgamations
between Chinese and Persianate visual languages, this chapter will further develop the
aforementioned arguments by providing examples from the Istanbul Albums. While the visual
signs of these exchanges are evident, one should not assume that the associated symbolic
meanings of these visual elements were also transferred from one culture to the other. In many
cases, it is apparent that the intertextual and symbolic meanings associated with certain visual
elements or themes within Chinese culture were entirely discarded or significantly altered by
the Persianate cultures who received them.
89 Cahill, “Some Alternative Sources for Archaistic Elements in the Paintings of Qian Xuan and Zhao Mengfu,” 66.
90 Shatzman Steinhardt, “Chinese Ladies in the Istanbul Albums,” 83.
91 Cahill, “Some Alternative Sources for Archaistic Elements in the Paintings of Qian Xuan and Zhao Mengfu,” 66.
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Figure 4 A spread that depicts a group of Chinese women in a courtyard, TSMK H.2153 fol. 128b-
129a (Image credit: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul)
As discussed earlier, the Istanbul Albums are host to a number of paintings that rely on
Chinese subject matter or Chinese painting styles. There are many discussions in regard to
whether these paintings are original Chinese paintings or direct copies that closely follow a
Chinese original. If they are copies, many lack any obvious Persian elements that show this.92
Figure 4 is one of such “Chinese style” paintings that depicts a garden scene, similar to a scene
that one might expect to find in a woodblock printed romance novel. The four ladies in the
scene are wearing bright Ming-style clothing. There are at least five more paintings in the
Istanbul Albums that are painted in the same painting style and same color scheme.93 It may
be safe to assume that these paintings are a part of the same narrative story. Lei interpret these
paintings as describing a feast and likens them to tomb murals from Yuan or Jurchen Jin
dynasties.94
There is also a great similarity between these paintings and illustrations of woodblock
printed novels, even though figure 4 is a painting, and not a print. Chinese woodblock printed
novels reached their highest point during the Ming dynasty, especially during the reign of the
Wanli emperor (born 1563 –1620, reigned 1572-1620).95 However, the history of woodblock-
92 Grube, “The Problem of the Istanbul Album Paintings,” 2.
93 These are H. 2153 folios 28b, 33b, 35b, 105a, 114a, in addition to the spread 128b-129a.
94 Lei, “Akkoyunlu-Türkmen Yakub Bey Albümlerindeki Kalem-i Siyahî Resimlerinde Çin Etkisi [Chinese Influence on
the Qalam-Siyahi Paintings in the Albums of Aqqoyunlu Turkman Yaqub Beg],” 28.
95 Zheng Zhenduo 郑振铎, Zhongguo gudai muke hua shilüe “中国古代木刻画史略” [A Brief History of Ancient Chinese
Woodcut Paintings], 51.
Chapter 3: Disentangling the History of Artistic Exchanges Between Persianate and Chinese Cultures
33
printed novels goes far back than that, and there are woodblock-printed novels and novellas
that remain from earlier centuries.96
Figure 5 A woodblock printed spread from the Ming novel Yuanyang Tao chatu 鸳鸯绦插图.
Figure 6 A scene from a painted Honglou Meng Futuce “红楼梦赋图册” [The Dream of the Red
Chamber], (Qing dynasty), Chester Beatty Library Collection.
96 Zheng Zhenduo 郑振铎, Zhongguo gudai muke hua shilüe “中国古代木刻画史略” [A Brief History of Ancient Chinese
Woodcut Paintings], 16.
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34
Figures 5 and 6 show two images with similar settings to figure 4. Figure 5 shows a
woodblock printed scene from a Ming novel Yuanyang Tao 鸳鸯绦dated 1635. Figure 6 shows
a page from a late Qing dynasty illustrated manuscript of Honglou Meng 红楼梦 (“The Dream
of the Red Chamber”) in the Chester Beatty collection (dated 1830-1850). The architecture in
these three images is strikingly similar; however, the Istanbul Album painting is much flatter
with a little suggestion of depth. The painter of this painting has only depicted the front façade
of the building, limiting the three-dimensionality of the architecture. In contrast, a better sense
of architecture is portrayed in figures 5 and 6. This flattened architecture might point to the
inferior quality of this painting in comparison with the images in figures 5 and 6. The two
paintings (fig. 4 and fig. 6) also share similarities in brushwork and the painting style used to
depict the vegetation. Figure 6 is painted on silk using a muted color scheme, and its drawings
are much more delicate and detailed. The painting in H.2153 (fig. 4) is painted on paper using
vivid colors. As figure 5 is a print, no comment can be made on the brushwork or color scheme.
This chapter argues that indigenous visual cultures are not created in isolation; neither are
they simply created by a ‘mother’ culture that gives birth to them. The artistic exchange plays
an important role in the creation and development of visual tradition, and it often takes place
over centuries, both synchronically and diachronically, and influences all participants. The
human-thing entanglement concept introduced by theoretical archaeologist Ian Hodder argues
that people’s relation to the material culture and, in turn, material culture’s relation to them
cannot be simply described as linear, ascribing one as the creator and the other one as the
product. Similarly, people also dynamically interact with one another, each party giving and
receiving in one way or another. Even things interact with one another, affecting the way they
are perceived, utilized, or transformed. Everything is entangled, and only by studying this
seemingly chaotic entanglement can we advance our understanding of cultural transformations
through interactions and exchange.97 Acknowledging this entanglement can provide a wider
cross-cultural context and augment our understanding of these cultures and their products.
97 Ian Hodder, Studies in Human-Thing Entanglement (Creative Commons, 2016).
Chapter 4: Case Studies on the Demon and Tiger Motifs in the Istanbul Albums
35
Chapter 4: Case Studies on the Demon and Tiger Motifs in the
Istanbul Albums
This chapter will expand on two visual motifs with complex historical origins. The first
one is the peculiar “demon” paintings attributed to Master Muhammad the Black Pen. This
study will first compare these to the Erlang myth and soushan pictorial theme that is based on
Chinese folklore and Daoist mythology. Soushan paintings also depict equally peculiar
monsters, engaging in activities similar to Master Muhammad the Black Pen paintings. The
second part will focus on some of the tiger paintings that are found in the Istanbul Albums.
This section will take a closer look at the tiger painting traditions in East and Central Asia,
especially focusing on the mother tigress figure, and try to discover parallels with the tiger
paintings in the Istanbul Albums. These two visual motifs are chosen to study two different
aspects of the Istanbul Album paintings. The analysis on the “demon” visual motif will
scrutinize the unusualness and the individual character of the paintings attributed to Master
Muhammed the Black Pen. The analysis on the “tiger” visual motif will take a look at if and
how Chinese-inspired subject matters and styles were adapted into the Persianate visual
language.
Nicknamed “Master Painter of Demons” by scholars such as Emel Esin,98 it is without a
doubt that Master Muhammed the Black Pen’s demon paintings are what strike as the most
unusual about his paintings to the modern audiences. However, this chapter will show that
rather than being unique or unusual, these demons are in line with demon-related myths and
visual motifs prevalent in East Asia. Thus, these paintings are great examples that can display
the entangled nature of the exchanges that took place between West and East Asia.
98 Emel Esin, Cinlere Ayna Tutan Nakkaş: Mehmed Siyah Kalem [The Painter Who Mirrored Demons: Mehmed the Black
Pen] (Istanbul: Kirmizi Kedi Publishing, 2016).
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Figure 7 Demons sacrificing a horse, 14-15th century, attributed to
Master Muhammed the Black Pen (inscription on the right), TSMK H. 2153, fol. 40b.
(Image credit: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul)
A majority of Master Muhammed the Black Pen’s demon paintings are located in the
album H. 2153. A couple of paintings that have similar characteristics can also be found in the
Khalili collection. These paintings depict anthropomorphic creatures with certain animal
features, such as horns and tails, engaging in a range of activities. In this study, I will divide
Master Muhammed the Black Pen’s demon paintings into three thematic groups, based on the
activities in which the demons are portrayed engaging. The first thematic group shows these
demons hunting or capturing animals, humans (figs. 11, 14), and in one case, even a dragon.
In some of these paintings, these demons are shown wrestling with (figs. 12, 13, 28), capturing
or beating other demons. In the second thematic group, the demons are depicted engaging in
non-violent activities, such as dancing, playing musical instruments, or chopping up wood.
The third group shows a procession of demons carrying palanquins, luxurious chests, and other
treasures (figs. 2, 9). Many of these demons are chained from their legs, and their necks are
tied to one another. Unlike the first group, the demons in the second and third groups do not
show hostility to one another, and many of them are restrained by chains and shackles.
Chapter 4: Case Studies on the Demon and Tiger Motifs in the Istanbul Albums
37
Figure 8 Demon wrestling with a dragon, 14-15th century,
attributed to Master Muhammed the Black Pen (inscription at the bottom), TSMK H. 2153, fol. 37a.
(Image credit: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul)
A particularly macabre painting belonging to the first group depicts a group of demons
fighting over the carcass of a horse (figure 7). This painting is painted in a horizontal format
on silk, and it was originally painted as a part of a larger scroll painting and then cut to its
current size to be placed in this album. The small inscription in a casual hand can be seen right
above the demon's head on the right-side attributes this painting to Master Muhammad the
Black Pen. There are eight figures in this composition, and the two figures on the right are
drawn much larger in size compared to the other six figures. İpşiroğlu identifies the activity in
this painting as a cult ritual that involves the sacrifice of a horse, and he claims that the figures
in the painting might be shamans in animal disguise.99 It is rather common in Turkish
academic circles to argue that the overarching narrative of the Black Pen’s demon paintings
relates to mysterious cults and their shamans. At the center of this painting, we see two demons
are fighting for a horse leg, each demon pulling from one of its ends, not letting go. On the
left, a demon is depicted brandishing another horse leg menacingly as a weapon towards
another demon, who sits on the ground and covers his face with his hands in defense. Next to
him is the torn head of the horse. Overall, it is an eerie and chaotic scene.
There are a few more demons that are painted in a similar hand, most notably the painting
that depicts a demon fighting a dragon on folio 37a (fig. 8). This painting also has an
inscription that attributes it to Master Muhammad the Black Pen. It is located in the center,
99 Mazhar Ş. İpşiroğlu, Bozkır Rüzgarı: Siyah Kalem [Wind of the Steppe: The Black Pen] (Ada Yayınları, 1985), 40.
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towards the bottom. A close look at the faces of these demons shows us that their facial features
closely resemble one another. The rightmost demon in figure 7 has almost identical facial
features with the demon on the right side in figure 8. Among the eight demons visible in figure
7, only three of them have prominent horns. The one on the left has bovine-type horns; the
other two have stumpy tree-type horns, which is also the most common type of demon horns
seen throughout the albums. The demon on the right in figure 8 also has prominent bovinetype
horns. Although the painting style is similar, there are also plenty of differences that set
these two paintings apart as well. The first and the most evident difference is that this second
demon drawing is made on paper. Another difference is that the demons in figure 8 are wearing
clothes, while the demons in figure 7 are naked. Their tail types are also different. The demons
in figure 7 have tails with long hair, most similar to a horse’s tail. The demons in figure 8 have
tails similar to a tiger’s. Lastly, the artist of figure 8 added some foreground elements, such as
decorative plants and rocks right below the demon’s feet, which gives it more Persianate
characteristics, as opposed to the lack of flora in figure 7, which is noteworthy.
Watson and Shatzman Steinhardt point to the similarities between Muhammad the Black
Pen’s demon paintings and Zhongshan you tu中山游图 “Zhong Kui Traveling” (also seen as
Zhongkui jiamei tu 钟馗嫁妹图 “Zhong Kui marrying off his sister”) pictorial motif.
Shatzman Steinhardt proposes that is a possible stylistic source of inspiration for Muhammad
the Black Pen’s “procession” themed demon paintings.100 (figs. 2, 9) Watson argues the
opposite: According to Watson, Zhong Kui’s demons entered the Chinese imagination via
Central Asia. Referring to the style in which the demons were painted, he states:
“It seems that artists practicing this style also found their way to China, where their work, as
demonstrated by the scroll of demons in the Freer Gallery, [fig. 10] introduces a wholly exotic
note in Chinese painting. Such connexion with China proper, whether only as far as Dunhuang
or with the metropolitan region, lends color to a quite tentative theory that the “demon style”
was at home somewhere between Qocho and Kashghar.”101
This chapter proposes another potential connection between the demon paintings
attributed to the Black Pen and China. It argues that especially the demon paintings in the first
and second groups share some common characteristics with a type of painting that relates to a
Chinese Daoist myth: Soushan tu.
100 Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt, “Siyah Qalem and Gong Kai: An Istanbul Album Painter and a Chinese Painter of the
Mongolian Period,” Muqarnas 4 (1987): 64.
101 William Watson, “Chinese Style in the Paintings of the Istanbul Albums,” in Islamic Art I, ed. Ernst J. Grube, Eleanor
G. Sims, and John Carswell, An Annual Dedicated to the Art and Culture of the Muslim World (NY: The Islamic Art
Foundation, 1981), 75.
Chapter 4: Case Studies on the Demon and Tiger Motifs in the Istanbul Albums
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Figure 9 A spread that depicts fettered demons carrying chests and palanquins, attributed to Master
Muhammad the Black Pen (inscription at the center of the recto), H. 2153, fol. 164b-165a. (Image
credit: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul)
Figure 10 Section from “Zhong Kui Going On Excursion” 中山出游图, Gong Kai 龚开 (1222-
1307, Yuan dynasty). Handscroll, ink on paper. Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
北京大学硕士学位论文
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Figure 11 Giant kidnapping a man, 14-15th
century, H. 2153, fol. 129b. (Image credit:
Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library,
Istanbul)
Figure 12 Demons wrestling, 14-15th century,
H. 2153, fol. 109b. (Image credit: Topkapı
Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul)
Figure 13 Demons wrestling in landscape, 14-15th
century, H. 2153, fol. 109b. (Image credit: Topkapı
Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul)
Figure 14 Demon kidnapping a man, in
the style of Muhammed Siyah Qalam, the
Khalili Collections.
Chapter 4: Case Studies on the Demon and Tiger Motifs in the Istanbul Albums
41
Soushan tu 搜山图 (“picture of a mountain search”) is a pictorial theme that depicts
groups of brutal-looking demons marching in the wilderness, hunting and capturing animals,
anthropomorphic creatures, and dragons. In a number of the extant soushan paintings, these
ferocious demons are led by a young commander who is often depicted sitting on the back of
three demon underlings crawling on the ground on all fours. The demon underlings are often
seen wearing very peculiar outfits that are made out of animal hides and reptile skins. In
soushan paintings, it is not immediately apparent who the villains are and who the heroes are
from a viewer’s point of view. One has to know the background story to know that the
anthropomorphic creatures that are targeted by Erlang’s demon underlings are evil spirits who
disguise themselves as humans. These evil spirits are sometimes depicted as animals in human
clothes, such as boars and monkeys. In some cases, they are depicted as beautiful women who
look completely human apart from their feet that are drawn as bird claws. In comparison, it is
hard to describe their capturers as anything but monstrous demons as they do not show any
resemblance to a particular animal.
Figure 16 Details from Soushan tu by Anonymous Ming artist on silk
明佚名设色绢本二郎搜山图. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Figure 15 Deta ils from Soushan tu by Anonymous S ong artist on silk
搜山图残卷宋佚名绢本设色图. The Palace Museum’s Collection, Beijing.
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According to Hinton, the earliest examples of the soushan painting genre can be dated
back to the tenth century. Hinton points to a painting that was gifted to Song dynasty Emperor
Taizong in 976 as the earliest textual evidence of this theme’s existence. This painting titled
Soushan tu was painted by the Song dynasty painter Gao Yi 高益 (active during the Northern
Song). In some sources, this painting is called Guishen soushan tu 鬼神搜山图 (“picture of
a mountain search for demons and gods”). Another painting titled Soushan Tianwang xiang
搜山天王像 (“picture of Tianwang/ Heavenly God searching the mountains”) by Huang Quan
黄荃 (903–968) is listed among the paintings in the imperial collection. This painting was
potentially made earlier than Gao Yi’s Soushan tu; however, it was only recorded in the twelfth
century. Unfortunately, both Gao Yi’s Soushan tu and Huang Quan’s Soushan Tianwang xiang
are no longer extant. However, the constancy of the term soushan suggests the existence of
this theme by the tenth century.
Soushan tu is often associated with a mythical character called Erlang 二郎. Although
erlang is a generic name that literally means “the second son,” in this context, it refers to a
demon-queller deity or demi-god who scouts the mountainous Western regions in search of
demons and evil spirits to subjugate. Erlang is widely known to the public as a part of various
folk tales and even as a character in the classic Ming novel Xiyou Ji 西游记 “Journey to the
Figure 17 Tianwang seated on three crouching demons.
Anonymous, Tianwang (Heavenly King), Tang dynasty, ca. 857.
Foguang Temple, Mount Wutai, Shanxi Province.
Figure 18 Erlang seated on three
crouching demons. Soushan tu by
Anonymous Ming artist on silk. 明佚
名设色绢本二郎搜山图
Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.
Chapter 4: Case Studies on the Demon and Tiger Motifs in the Istanbul Albums
43
West.” In the Journey to the West, he is described as a demi-god, as well as the nephew of the
Jade Emperor 玉帝. There are, in fact, numerous folk stories that designate different identities
and different roles to Erlang and consequently to the soushan tu theme. However, Hinton
makes a compelling argument that it is possible that these are later associations rather than
initial inspirations for the soushan themed paintings.102 Hinton’s research points to visual
similarities in depictions of Erlang and Buddhist Tianwang “Heavenly God” figures. The fact
that these similarities are largely visual reinforces the idea that Tianwang might have served
as a general inspiration for the Erlang character, and two myths are not strict adaptations of
one another (compare figs. 17 and 18 above). This, by extension, may suggest Buddhist origins
to the Erlang myth and soushan tu theme.
Chinese scholars, Liu Zongdi 刘宗迪103 and Li Guotao 黎国韬,104 on the other hand,
engage in textual analysis of the Erlang and Tianwang myths and suggest potential Persian
Zoroastrian origins to this subject matter. If the Erlang and Tianwang myths have their origins
in the Persian world, then this provides evidence that points out these cyclical exchanges and
an entanglement of cultural imagery between the Chinese and Persianate cultures.
In his paper, Liu takes a closer look at the influences of Zoroastrianism on the Erlang
myth and associated folklore stories. He states that regardless of the plethora of alternative
origin stories attributed to Erlang, he is, in fact, not a local deity that originates from the local
Daoist pantheon but a foreign one who was introduced to China thanks to the exchanges on
the Silk Road. By the Song dynasty, China had established its own Erlang myth, which stated
that Erlang was a water deity who could capture and subdue dragons. He was also a deity of
thunder. Liu’s research draws convincing parallels between the Zoroastrian god responsible
for rainfall, Tishtar, and Erlang. According to Liu, it was no coincidence that the Chinese
Erlang myth’s birthplace was Guankou 灌口, not only because Erlang was claimed to be a
son of Li Bing, who during the third century BCE built the massive water diversion project
called Dujiangyan 都江堰, but also because Guankou was an important town on the Silk Road.
Thus, it is very likely that the local legend of Li Bing and his son merged into one with the
myths associated with Zoroastrian Tishtar that was brought to Guankou via the Silk Road.
102 Carmelita Hinton, “Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound: The Evolution of Soushan Tu Paintings in the Northern
Song Period,” in The Zoomorphic Imagination in Chinese Art and Culture, ed. Jerome Silbergeld and Eugene Yuejin Wang
(Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2016).
103 Liu Zongdi 刘宗迪, “Erlang Qibaima Yuan Zi Bosi Lai ‘二郎骑白马 远自波斯来’ [Erlang on a White Horse Is
Originally from Persia],” Zijincheng 紫禁城 [Forbidden City], 2018, 89–103.
104 Li Guotao 黎国韬, “Erlangshen Zhi Xianjiao Laiyuan-- Jianlun Erlangshen Heyi Chengwe Xishen ‘二郎神之祆教来源
--兼论二郎神何以成为戏神’ [Deity Erlang’s Zoroastrian Origins],” Daojiao Yanjiu 道教研究 [Taoism Studies], 2004.
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Thing theory highlights that things are “not isolated,” “not inert,” and “endure over
different temporalities.” Then, we can argue that the Erlang myth as a thing cannot be thought
of as an isolated folk tale. As not-isolated and not-inert things, the Erlang myth, the myth of
the Zoroastrian rainfall deity Tishtar as well as the Buddhist Tianwang “Heavenly God”
figures interacted in certain ways, and in the end, they endured in different forms. Tishtar and
stories that talk about his struggles with water and rainfall related catastrophes endured within
the myth of Guankou’s Erlang deity. However, the name Tishtar and its foreign origins were
forgotten. On the other hand, the visual language used to tell the story of Erlang converged
with Buddhist Tianwang “Heavenly God” figures. Detangling this entangled network of
interdependent things is a big task. However, thinking of these interactions within the thing
theory’s theoretical framework allows us to make sense of the series of diachronic crosscultural
exchanges that took place seemingly randomly.
How do the demons fit into this entangled network of diachronic cross-cultural exchanges?
This is the big question that this chapter has set out to answer. As mentioned earlier, not much
about the numerous demon paintings that fill the pages of the albums H.2153 and H.2160 is
known. They depict unusual monsters that not only fight amongst one another but also engage
in some seemingly more mundane activities such as cutting trees and carrying treasure chests.
Even if these demons are a part of narrative paintings that illustrate a specific story, this story
has not yet been discovered by scholars. This thesis suggests that there are certain similarities
between the demons of Master Muhammad the Black Pen and the demon underlings of Erlang,
as illustrated in the soushan paintings. These similarities are not limited to visual similarities,
but they can also be observed in the activities in which they engage. To start with the visual
similarities, both the demons of the Black Pen and demon underlings Erlang, as depicted in a
soushan scroll from the Song dynasty (fig. 15), and a very similar one from the Ming dynasty
(fig. 16), can best be described as anthropomorphic monsters. They possess animalistic
features, yet they cannot be linked to a specific animal. They are bipedal, and a great majority
of them only wear garments to cover their lower body. In the case of paintings attributed to
Master Muhammad the Black Pen, we also see demons that are entirely naked, apart from
golden ankle and wrist bracelets and other seemingly decorative accessories, such as armbands,
solid collar necklaces, pendants, bells, tassel waistbands, tail rings, and earrings. In the case
of Erlang’s demons, although a majority of them only wear lower body garments, there are
also a few figures that adorn upper body garments or armor. Among the better-dressed, there
are ones that even wear shoes or leg warmers. All soushan tu demons wear bracelets on their
Chapter 4: Case Studies on the Demon and Tiger Motifs in the Istanbul Albums
45
wrists and on their ankles (apart from the ones with shoes or leg warmers). Many of them also
wear solid hoop earrings, just like their counterparts in the Istanbul Albums. They also wear
necklaces; however, their necklaces are much more ornate than those the Black Pen’s demons
adorn. Many of Erlang’s underlings also wear ornate headbands, which is absent in the
Istanbul Album paintings. Notice the way the curly hair is painted on soushan tu monsters
(figs. 15, 16). Their style is identical to the Black Pen’s curly-haired demons (such as in figs.
7, 8, 13, 14). In terms of their physiological similarities, just like the Black Pen’s demons,
some of Erlang’s underlings also have horns. However, their horns are less prominent. Both
groups of demons’ ears come in different shapes that resemble different types of animals.
Many of the Black Pen’s demons are covered in fur; however, that is not the case with the
soushan tu’s. The soushan tu demons do not have tails, unlike the Black Pen’s demons. Tails
of the Black Pen’s demons also seem to have a different type, with the most unusual type being
ones that end in a dragon head, which is often depicted as biting or attacking the demon’s
opponent. Both the Black Pen’s and Erlang’s demons have fangs. The peculiar way the
eyebrows of Erlang’s demons are drawn shows similarities with the Black Pen’s demons.
Secondly, the soushan tu demons and the Black Pen’s demons engage in certain activities
and behaviors that are comparable. The Black Pen’s demon paintings can be put into three
categories based on the activities in which they engage: (1) fighting, kidnapping, or other
aggressive behavior, (2) daily activities including chopping up wood, dancing, playing musical
instruments, and (3) carrying chests and palanquins. Within the first category, we see them
either fighting with one another (figs. 7, 12, 13, 28) or capturing, kidnapping (figs. 11, 14), or
fighting with people or animals, including dragons (fig. 8). The second category depicts them
engaging in very mundane and social activities where the demons do not appear to be hostile
to one another. The third category could be a sub-category of the second category; however,
due to its interesting subject matter, it is worth examining them independently. The behavior
of the soushan tu’s demons carries elements from all of these three categories. As per the
theme of the soushan paintings, Erlang’s underlings are depicted capturing and subduing other
demons that are different from them. Among these demons are those that entirely look human
or animal. And, there are also those who are animal-human hybrids or in the middle of their
transformation, such as the one who has a pretty woman’s upper body and a monkey’s legs.
Apart from showing hostile behavior towards the demons that they are subduing, the
underlings of Erlang are a group and capable of exhibiting peaceful behavior towards one
another. On the rightmost side of the scroll, we see them surrounding Erlang, carrying a
variety of objects in their hands, which appear to be their battle spoils.
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After laying out the certain links between the Chinese local folk tale of Erlang,
Zoroastrian, and Buddhist myths, as well as connecting the language of the soushan painting
genre with the mysterious Master Muhammad the Black Pen paintings, the first part of this
chapter attempted to display the entangled nature of cross-cultural exchanges that potentially
took place between western and eastern Asia. Next, this chapter will talk about the tiger
pictorial motif.
There are a few articles that point out the seemingly coincidental similarities between the
crouching cat painting in H.2160 album (fig. 19) and a painting of a cat by the Ming artist
Shen Zhou 沈周 (1427-1509) (fig. 20). A 2014 article by Wang Ching-Ling 王静灵 pays
particular attention to these paintings.105 Like some other scholars, Wang puts emphasis on
the round design and peculiar similarity between the poses of these two cats. It is hard to miss
the similarities between these two paintings, from the angle of the cats’ heads, to their gazes,
and to the position of their paws and tails; the two paintings mimic each other in a number of
ways. However, establishing a connection between them is more complicated than it seems.
According to Wang, it is most likely that this circular painting of a cat was reproduced from a
fifteenth-century woodblock printed image of a cat and not directly from Shen Zhou’s
painting.106 Paul also discusses the origins of this circular design by comparing it to Central
Asian craft objects. The perfectly round form of this crouching cat painting is not unique
within the Istanbul Albums, as a number of circular zoomorphic compositions can be found
throughout. Paul’s analysis draws on Kadoi’s argument on the role of commercial goods such
as bronze objects or fabrics in the spread of Persianate visual elements into the Chinese visual
culture. It is admittedly hard to definitively argue that there is a connection between the two
images. However, whether by coincidence or design, these two images match one another so
perfectly that, as things, their interaction with one another ignited the interest of many scholars
and further research on the exchanges between Persianate and Chinese worlds.
105 Wang Ching-Ling 王静灵, “Luansheng Mao Zhi Mi Shijie: Youguan Zhongguo Yu Bosi Huihua Jiaoliu de Yige
Mianxiang "孪生猫之谜试解:有关中国与波斯绘画交流的一个面向” [The Mystery of the Twin Cats: A Case Study of
Sino-Persian Exchange on Painting],” Gugong Wenwu Yuekan 故宮文物月刊 [National Palace Museum Monthly Journal]
372 (2014): 22–31.
106 Wang Ching-Ling 王静灵, “Luansheng Mao Zhi Mi Shijie: Youguan Zhongguo Yu Bosi Huihua Jiaoliu de Yige
Mianxiang "孪生猫之谜试解:有关中国与波斯绘画交流的一个面向” [The Mystery of the Twin Cats: A Case Study of
Sino-Persian Exchange on Painting],” 11.
Chapter 4: Case Studies on the Demon and Tiger Motifs in the Istanbul Albums
47
Figure 19 Crouching Cat, 14-15th century, TSMK
H. 2160, fol. 66b. (Image credit: Topkapı Palace
Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul)
Figure 20 Detail from Shen Zhou 沈周 (Ming,
1427-1509)’s Sketches from Life 写生册.
Taipei National Palace Museum.
Figu re 21 Tigress, 14-15th century, attributed to Master Shaykhi (inscription on the left), H. 2153,
fol. 21a. (Image credit: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul)
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Figur e 22 A scene from Prince MahaSattva's life in Jakata Tales (萨埵太子舍身饲虎图), Northern
Wei dynasty, Dunhuang, Mogao cave 254.
There are a number of speculations regarding the curious case of the twin cats. However,
there is another feline in the album H.2153 that is rarely mentioned in any academic articles
(fig. 21). This thesis argues that taking a closer look at this painting that depicts a female tiger,
possibly a mother tiger, may reveal a connection between tiger paintings in the Istanbul
Albums and tiger-themed paintings common during the Ming dynasty, and even Central Asian
Buddhist wall paintings.
In a 2017 article, Homma talks about a tiger painting in the Istanbul Albums H. 2153,
folio 89b (fig. 23).107 The composition of this painting, as well as the tiger’s pose, is one that
is perhaps more familiar to us. This painting depicts a traditional subject of a tiger advancing
forward in a hostile manner. This is a typical East Asian composition called chushanhu 出山虎
(“emerging from the mountain”) or chulinhu 出林虎 (“emerging from the woods”). This motif
is better known to the modern audience from its representations in Korean or Japanese art.
However, it is acknowledged that it has originally spread to Korea and Japan from China
during the Song dynasty.108 Moreover, it was a very popular composition all over East Asia
by the Ming dynasty. Sung Hou-Mei, who has done extensive studies on tiger and lion
representations in Chinese art, also points to that the association of this tiger motif with Korean
and Japanese art more than Chinese art might just be an overgeneralization and argues that
Ming Chinese tiger paintings are often misattributed as Korean due to our relatively poorer
understanding on Ming artists.109
107 Homma, “The Influence of Chinese Art on Persian Paintings in the Saray and Diez Albums.”
108 Hae Yeun Kim, “East Asian Cultural Exchange in Tiger and Dragon Paintings,” The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art
History, accessed April 10, 2021, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tidra/hd_tidra.htm.
109 Hou-Mei Sung, “Tiger with Cubs: A Rediscovered Ming Court Painting,” Artibus Asiae 64:2 (2004): 281.
Chapter 4: Case Studies on the Demon and Tiger Motifs in the Istanbul Albums
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The tiger painting in the Istanbul Album H. 2153 shows a striking similarity to, perhaps
one of the most well-known tiger paintings in East Asian art history, the National Museum of
Korea’s “Painting of a Ferocious Tiger” (fig. 24). Surprisingly, a quick comparison reveals
that the two compositions are nearly identical in terms of how the tiger is positioned; however,
their brushwork shows considerable differences. Another painting in the collection of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, painted during the sixteenth or seventeenth century in the style
of the artist Mu Qi 牧溪 (Song dynasty, active ca. 1250–80), also shows a tiger painted in the
same position (fig. 25). Kim does not make a claim on where this painting was created,
acknowledging that it is often not easy to assign a specific origin to a painting with a
commonly seen subject matter such as this one.110 All three tigers have their right front and
hind legs marching forward, overlapping their left legs. Their spines are bent in an exaggerated
way. Their faces are slightly tilted to the right, possibly gazing upon their prey. Their tails are
positioned differently in these three paintings. This may be the painters’ attempt to have it fit
the paper that they were using. The markings on the Ming tiger’s and the Istanbul Album
tiger’s faces show even further similarities. Surely, what sets the Istanbul Album tiger apart
from the other two tiger paintings is its flat, hard-lined painting style that lacks shading. This
tiger’s stripes are drawn using parallel wavy lines that often appear in the near Eastern
variation of the cintamani pattern.
110 Kim, “East Asian Cultural Exchange in Tiger and Dragon Paintings.”
Figure 23 Tiger, Topkapı Palace Museum, Istanbul, H.2153, fol. 89b.
(Image credit: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul)
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Looking at the previously mentioned tigress painting in the Istanbul Album H. 2153 folio
21a (fig. 21), we can notice a number of differences. Firstly, this painting does not directly
match any commonly known motif, neither of Chinese or East Asian painting nor of Persianate
painting. It depicts a female tiger with her clearly painted nipples, possibly indicating that she
is nursing. In her mouth, she carries a rodent. This tigress appears less menacing; it would be
hard to call her facial expression ferocious or hostile. Rather, she seems to be peering over her
shoulder with caution. This expression could be interpreted as her watching out for a possible
threat or even looking for her cubs to feed them her prey.
Tigers often appear in Persianate painting in the context of hunting scenes.111 Sometimes,
they are also depicted as strong beasts fighting bulls. However, there is no commonly known
folk tale or story that talks about a mother tigress. As mentioned earlier, it is not a Persianate
painting tradition to simply depict nature. Within the ancient Persianate cultures, paintings and
illustrations either exists as part of a narrative or are reproductions of foreign art. Even though
111 Homma, “The Influence of Chinese Art on Persian Paintings in the Saray and Diez Albums,” 250.
Figure 24 Painting of a
Ferocious Tiger, Unknown
Joseon dynasty painter,
National Museum of Korea.
Figure 25 Tiger, In the style
of Mu Qi (ca. 1210–after
1269), the Metropolitan
Museum of Art.
Figure 26 Tiger with cubs and
magpies, Unknown Ming
dynasty painter (fifteenth
century), the Smithsonian's
National Museum of Asian Art.
Chapter 4: Case Studies on the Demon and Tiger Motifs in the Istanbul Albums
51
it is clearly painted in the Persian style, it would not be far-fetched to look for ‘foreign’
influences in this motif.
In fact, mother tigress is a subject matter that can be found within different contexts in
Central and East Asian visual cultures. The first example is ruhu 乳虎 (“tiger with cubs”)
motif. This is a traditional Chinese subject that depicts a tigress surrounded by cubs (fig. 26).
There are a number of variations of this composition. Sung discusses that the genre of tiger
painting was a very popular and rich tradition during the Ming dynasty.112 It is also known
that many Ming dynasty tiger paintings that are known from historical records are no longer
extant.113 Thus, we cannot dismiss that the ruhu motif may very well be a possible inspiration
for this tigress painting painted in the qalam-siyahi style. This is plausible given the fact that
many Chinese-inspired paintings in the Istanbul Albums have Ming parallels or near parallels.
Even though the poses of these two tigresses depicted in the Istanbul Album H.2153 folio 21a
and the anonymous Ming dynasty scroll are quite different, it is possible to observe some
stylistic similarities between them. Folio 21a is a more naturalistic representation compared to
the tiger of the folio 89b. Folio 21a tigress is effectively shaded, and her fur is painted on with
fine lines. Overall, folio 21a tigress appears to have been produced by a painter more
experienced in black ink painting (qalam-siyahi). It is more three-dimensional and lifelike
when compared to the relatively flat work produced by the painter of folio 89b. The markings
on the folio 21a tiger are also more naturalistic, unlike the ornamental cintamani pattern
painted on the folio 89b tiger. These qualities of folio 21a are similar to the anonymous Ming
painting. To clarify, neither of these paintings are inscribed with the name of Muhammad the
Black Pen. Instead, a worn-down scribble on the upper left-hand corner of the folio 21a tigress
in figure 21 attributes the work to “Master Shaykhi.” Just like many other inscriptions found
in the Istanbul Albums, it is without a doubt that this inscription is not an original signature,
but rather a designation made by a librarian, or one of the owners of the albums. Shaykhi was
a recorded painter who worked in the court of the Aqqoyunlu Turkman Sultan Yaqub (reigned
1478-1490). Along with Muhammad the Black Pen, Shaykhi’s name also frequently appears
in H. 2153 in the form of inscriptions. The style of paintings that are attributed to him in these
albums is also consistent with his other works.114 Shaykhi also paints in qalam-siyahi style,
and many of the paintings that are attributed to him show similarities to other paintings
attributed to Muhammad the Black Pen. Shaykhi was known to have a collaborator called
112 Sung, “Tiger with Cubs: A Rediscovered Ming Court Painting,” 281–83.
113 Sung, “Tiger with Cubs: A Rediscovered Ming Court Painting,” 283.
114 Tanındı, “Some Problems of Two Istanbul Albums, H. 2153 and H. 2160,” 38.
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Darwish Muhammad, who also painted in qalam-siyahi style. This caused some scholars to
speculate that Darwish Muhammad is, in fact, another name used by Muhammad the Black
Pen (Darwish is a religious title which he might have gained later in his career). However, this
is an argument that cannot be proven without further proof. That being said, Shaykhi and
Muhammad the Black Pen’s paintings are comparable, and Shaykhi masterfully employs
Muhammad the Black Pen signature style: qalam-siyahi.
All in all, folio 21a tigress does not reflect any well-known Persianate stories or folk tales.
It is unusual for a Persianate painter to paint a figure, even more so, an animal figure, that is
independent of a narrative. Compositions such as folio 21a or folio 89b that depict a single
animal on a plain background are quite unusual in Persianate, as well as in Islamic painting.115
This painting convention has little to no parallels in any other context in Persianate painting.
However, there are more than a few paintings that are painted in this manner in the Istanbul
Albums, and most of them can be associated with Chinese paintings. Given these stylistic
similarities, as well as the context of this unusual tigress painting’s emergence, it can be
concluded that it is very likely that there is a connection between the Istanbul Album tigress
and the traditional Chinese “tiger with cubs” genre, even though pose of the tigress in folio
21a does not directly match any known “tiger with cubs” painting.
According to Sung, the “tiger with cubs” theme emerged in China in the tenth century as
an attempt to realistically depict animals in nature.116 As talked about in the Literature Review
section, Chinese visual traditions received a certain impact from the artistic traditions of
Central Asia during the Tang dynasty. It is possible that the tiger theme is one of these socalled
archaistic elements that were revived by Ming artists.117
An even more ambitious exploration would be looking for connections between the tigress
motif and Central Asian Buddhist wall paintings. A depiction of a scene from Prince
MahaSattva’s life in Jakata Tales (萨埵太子舍身饲虎图) that can be found in the Dunhuang
Mogao cave no. 254 (fig. 22) features a tigress whose pose is strikingly similar to the tigress
in H.2153. According to this well-known Buddhist story, Prince MahaSattva sacrifices himself
to a hungry tigress so that she can feed her cubs. Could this story be one of the possible
inspirations behind the ruhu motif? More importantly, could this tiger painting be a possible
visual inspiration for the tigress painting in H.2153? Studies show that other Central Asian
115 Toh Sugimura, “Chinese Influence on Persian Paintings of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries,” March 23, 1992, 10,
https://doi.org/10.15021/00003109.
116 Sung, “Tiger with Cubs: A Rediscovered Ming Court Painting,” 283.
117 Cahill, “Some Alternative Sources for Archaistic Elements in the Paintings of Qian Xuan and Zhao Mengfu,” 66.
Chapter 4: Case Studies on the Demon and Tiger Motifs in the Istanbul Albums
53
grottoes such as Kizil, Kizilgaha, Kumtura, and Toyuq also feature the same subject matter.118
The influence of Buddhism is evident in many aspects of the Istanbul Album paintings, and
these wall paintings would potentially be accessible to a nomadic or mobile painter.
Figure 27 Four sleepers, fifteenth century, TSMK H.2160, fol. 48b.
(Image credit: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul)
Tiger is a pervasive motif used in Buddhist art throughout Asia. Tiger paintings have an
even more special place in Chan Buddhist painting traditions. A painting in the Istanbul Album
H.2160 folio 48b depicts a popular East Asian artistic theme, “Three Chan Eccentrics.” (fig.
27) In this painting, three Chan monks, Hanshan 寒山, Shide 拾得, and Fenggan 豐干 are
painted in a roundel format, sleeping alongside Feng Shan’s legendary tiger companion, with
a bird that watches them on the left corner of the painting. This subject matter, known as sishui
tu 四睡图 (“four sleepers”) is a widespread one in East Asian art.119 However, it is not clear
this Persian copy was based on which original painting. It has been pointed out that Central
Asian artists who reproduced the “Three Chan Eccentrics” theme or other themes did not
necessarily know about these three Chan monks or what their story signified. In this
118 Zhan Yuehai 占跃海, “Dunhuang 254ku Bihua Xushi de Xiangxin Jiegou -- Yi 《Sayin Taizi Sheshen Sihu》wei
Zhongdian ‘敦煌254窟壁画叙事的向心结构 一一以《萨堙太子舍身饲虎》为重点’ [The Central Composition That
Focuses on the ‘Prince MahaSattva Sacrifices Himself to a Hungry Tigress’ Motif in the Cave 254 of Dunhuang],” 南京艺
术学院学报 Journal of Nanjing Arts Institute 5 (2010): 40.
119 For example, see the seventeenth century Japanese artist Tawaraya Sōtatsu’s “Four Sleepers” in the collection of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/77247?exhibitionId=%7B5bc821dc-2782-
4897-854f-ebbdc0f09577%7D&oid=77247
北京大学硕士学位论文
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reproduction, we can also see that Central Asian artists used brighter and more saturated colors
to cater to local taste.120
Figure 28 Two wrestling demons, fifteenth
century, TSMK H.2153, fol. 24a.
(Image credit: Topkapı Palace Treasury
Museum Library, Istanbul)
Figure 29 Two dogs, fifteenth century, attributed to
Master Muhammad the Black Pen (inscription on
the right) TSMK H.2160, fol. 48a.
(Image credit: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum
Library, Istanbul)
The roundel design seen in figure 27, as well as figure 19, is repeated using different
subject matter many times in the Istanbul Albums. Figure 28 depicts a painting where two
demons intertwined into not a perfect circle but a lanceolate. One of the demons has a leopard
print hide; however, his spots are interestingly green and red. The other one has bovine-type
horns. The two demons seem to be fighting, wrestling, and biting each other. Its subject matter
is in line with other demon paintings that are previously mentioned. However, this design is
unexpected and innovative. Figure 29 is another painting from the albums that has a similar
roundel design. This image shows two dogs cuddling with one another. Its brushwork and
color scheme show similarity with the “Crouching Cat” painting (fig. 19). An inscription
written with a casual hand like a scribble is added on the righthand side that attributes it to
Master Muhammad the Black Pen. The roundel design might have been inspired by decorative
120 Paul, “The Eccentrics of Istanbul.”
Chapter 4: Case Studies on the Demon and Tiger Motifs in the Istanbul Albums
55
commercial goods, such as luxury textile with embroidery, metalwork, Chinese blue and white
porcelain and Persian fritware pottery. A Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition catalogue
“When Silk Was Gold” publishes a rich variety of woven silk that are attributed to Central
Asia and the eastern Iranian territories during the Mongol period (13th-14th centuries). A
number of these fabrics are designed with circular patterns that are made up of symmetrically
placed animal figures, most commonly felines and birds. 121 Komaroff highlights the
importance of decorative commercial goods in the cultural exchange between China and
Persianate communities during the Mongol period. According to Komaroff, Mongols
particularly valued luxury textiles as portable and wearable wealth and this resulted in their
playing a significant role in the transmission and dissemination of visual languages.122 In time,
the patterns transmitted and disseminated thanks to the textiles started making appearances in
different media, including manuscript illustration.123
The second part of this chapter provided another example of what kind of entangled
exchanges might have taken place between the feline paintings that are found in the Istanbul
Albums and East and Central Asian painting genres. All in all, this chapter has given two case
studies that showcase the entanglement of Persianate and Chinese artistic languages.
121 James C. Y. Watt and Anne E. Wardwell, When Silk Was Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles (New York:
Metropolitan Museum of Art in cooperation with the Cleveland Museum of Art : Distributed by H.N. Abrams, 1997), 127–
58.
122 Linda Komaroff, “The Transmission and Dissemination of a New Visual Language,” in The Legacy of Genghis Khan:
Courtly Art and Cultur in Western Asia, 1256-1353, ed. Linda Komaroff and Stefano Carboni (New Haven and London:
Yale University Press, 2002), 169.
123 Komaroff, “The Transmission and Dissemination of a New Visual Language,” 181.
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Chapter 5: Conclusion
This thesis has analyzed the Istanbul Albums and Master Muhammad the Black Pen
paintings in order to showcase the entangled nature of the influences between the Persianate
and Chinese visual cultures utilizing the concept of human-thing entanglement. As a tool to
achieve a deeper understanding of the complex cross-cultural influences that have taken
place between Persianate cultures and China, this thesis chose to use this innovative
theoretical framework. Human-thing entanglement theory was developed by the acclaimed
theoretical archaeologist Ian Hodder and has made a name for itself in the field of
archaeology; however, it is still relatively unknown in other areas of historical research.
Human-thing entanglement discusses things (i.e., material objects, ideas, concepts, myths)
not only from the viewpoints of humans who create, utilize, alter and discard them, but also
from the viewpoint of other things. According to this framework, things also interact with
one another and transform accordingly. Analyzing these inter-thing relations can bring fresh
perspectives in art historical studies. This framework emphasizes the dynamic and interdependent
nature of things in order to gain a better understanding of anything of historical
importance, from art objects to folktales, and reveals the entangled, non-linear, or sometimes
even cyclical cultural cross-fertilization that took place between West, Central, and East
Asia. Through these exchanged, borrowed, and amalgamated visual motifs, this study also
aimed to understand how fifteenth to seventeenth-century Persianate communities reacted to
a visual language created by a foreign culture. Hodder’s theory reminds us that things are
“not isolated,” “not inert,” “endure over different temporalities,” and “often appear as nonthings.”
However, humans, who analyze them, tend to forget these important characteristics
of things.124 These principles constitute the cornerstones of Hodder’s thing theory, and this
study showed that each one of these principles can provide a unique insight on a previously
understudied aspect of a historical object.
The first chapter of this thesis gave an introductory overview of the Istanbul Albums
and the body of work attributed to the semi-historical painter called Master Muhammad the
Black Pen. This chapter provided the necessary background information and summarized the
state of the current scholarship on this topic. The influence of Chinese visual arts and culture
on the paintings in the Istanbul Albums is widely acknowledged by modern scholars.
124 Hodder, Entangled, 3–6.
Chapter 5: Conclusion
57
However, Master Muhammad the Black Pen and his body of work continue to be understood
as an oddity within the Persianate painting. Scholars often highlight the undeniable
individual quality that his paintings, especially the nomad and demon themed ones, possess.
This thesis attempted to enrich these conversations by proposing similarities between Master
Muhammad the Black Pen’s demons and soushan tu visual motif. This point of view
deviates from a number of scholars (such as İpşiroğlu125 and Esin126) who associate Master
Muhammad the Black Pen’s demons with Central Asian and Turkic myths. This argument is
also different from Watson and Shatzman Steinhardt, who pointed out similarities between
the Zhong Kui Traveling visual motif and the Black Pen’s demons, especially those that
carry chests and palanquins. Surely, these arguments still remain valid.
The second chapter of this thesis analyzed the meta-narrative of the Istanbul Albums by
focusing on the ways in which they are entangled. As muraqqas, the act of their compilation
is an important aspect of their entanglement. Muraqqas are not the most favorable media
when it comes to contextual analysis. By definition, muraqqas are collections of paintings
that are removed from their original context. However, the paintings in the Istanbul Albums
are not merely displaced from their context; they also appear to be culturally alien. For many
of these paintings, very few, if any, parallels can be found in the fifteenth to seventeenthcentury
Persianate world. Strangely enough, many of these paintings that stand out are
attributed to the mysterious Master Muhammad the Black Pen, even though the hand in
which these paintings were painted, and other formal features show significant differences.
Certainly, this paper questions the accuracy of these attributions and suggests that the shared
aesthetic of these paintings has resulted in their attribution to a single painter. This shared
aesthetic has set them apart in the eyes of their contemporaneous audience, who perceived
them as paintings that carried certain exotic or foreign elements. The second chapter also
looked at the ways in which modern audiences (as well as researchers) access and peruse
illustrated manuscripts and argues that the way we interact with them may alter our
understanding of them.
The third chapter of this thesis has emphasized that visual cultures are not created in
isolation. The artistic exchange plays an important role in the creation and development of
visual tradition. The paintings attributed to Master Muhammad the Black Pen are often
125 İpşiroğlu, Bozkır Rüzgarı: Siyah Kalem [Wind of the Steppe: The Black Pen], 34–40.
126 Esin, Cinlere Ayna Tutan Nakkaş: Mehmed Siyah Kalem [The Painter Who Mirrored Demons: Mehmed the Black Pen],
9–58.
北京大学硕士学位论文
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praised for their unconventional subject matter and unique style. However, this thesis
showed that although these paintings do possess an incredibly unique character, the
inspirations behind their creation may be more complex than the artistic ingenuity of their
creator(s). Central Asia is a place of multi-cultural exchange and cross-fertilization. Given
these multi-cultural characteristics and the dynamic nature of this region, it is no simple task
to pinpoint the origins of or even the inspirations behind its artistic products. Whether
Master Muhammad the Black Pen is a real painter from history or not, the works attributed
to him share a common spirit even though they are painted using a large variety of materials
and painting styles. This fact makes it very unlikely that all of over 80 (or 65 inscribed)
paintings that are attributed to Master Muhammad the Black Pen can be the product of a
single painter, or even a single atelier. However, at a certain point in history, they were still
grouped together as the oeuvre of Master Muhammad the Black Pen. This shows that by
being grouped together, the paintings that make up the albums acquired heightened meaning
and significance.
The case studies in Chapter 4 provided examples of the influence the Chinese culture
and visual arts and West and Central Asian culture and visual arts had on each other. The
fourth chapter analyzed the entangled nature of the Chinese influences found in Master
Muhammad the Black Pen’s paintings by taking a closer look at the cyclical nature of
cultural exchanges between his demons, the Daoist Erlang myth, and soushan pictorial
theme. Next, it took a closer look at the tiger painting traditions in East and Central Asia, and
discovered parallels with the tiger paintings in the Istanbul Albums. This case study
concluded that while the visual signs of these exchanges are evident, the associated symbolic
meanings of these visual elements were forgotten as they were transferred from one culture
to the other.
In conclusion, this thesis aimed to further the studies on cross-cultural communication
between the Chinese and Persian cultures. It aimed to shed new light on the body of work
associated with Master Muhammad the Black Pen. It also analyzed the Istanbul Albums,
which the Black Pen paintings are a part of, through the lens of human-thing entanglement
theory, in order to reveal their meta-narrative. It argued that this meta-narrative is one of
otherness. The Istanbul Albums were compilations that aimed to bring together works that
were regarded as alien to their compilers. The choice to place Master Muhammad the Black
Chapter 5: Conclusion
59
Pen paintings in this context reveals that they were more foreign than local to their
contemporaneous audiences as well.
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60
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Illustration Credits
63
Illustration Credits
Fig. 1: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul
Fig. 2: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul
Fig. 3: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul
Fig. 4: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul
Fig. 5: Quoted in Zhou Wu 周芜, Zhongguo Gudai Banhua Baitu 中国古代版画百图
[Hundred Ancient Chinese Prints], 77. Renmin Meishu Chubanshe 人民美术出版社, 1984.
Fig. 6: Chester Beatty Library Collection, https://viewer.cbl.ie/viewer/image/C_1354/10/
Fig. 7: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul
Fig. 8: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul
Fig. 9: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul
Fig. 10: Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., https://asia.si.edu/object/F1938.4/
Fig. 11: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul
Fig. 12: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul
Fig. 13: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul
Fig. 14: The Khalili Collections, https://www.khalilicollections.org/collections/islamicart/
khalili-collection-islamic-art-album-page-in-the-style-of-muhammad-siyah-qalammss1065/
Fig. 15: The Palace Museum Collections, Beijing,
https://www.dpm.org.cn/collection/paint/229608.html
Fig. 16: Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/28199/erlang-and-his-soldiers-driving-out-animal-spiritserlang-
s
Fig. 17: Quoted in Hinton, Carmelita. “Evil Dragon, Golden Rodent, Sleek Hound: The
Evolution of Soushan Tu Paintings in the Northern Song Period.” In The Zoomorphic
Imagination in Chinese Art and Culture, edited by Jerome Silbergeld and Eugene Yuejin
Wang. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2016.
Fig. 18: Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/28199/erlang-and-his-soldiers-driving-out-animal-spiritserlang-
s
Fig. 19: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul
Fig. 20: The National Palace Museum, Taipei.
Fig. 21: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul
Fig. 22: Digital Dunhuang. Retrieved from:
https://www.e-dunhuang.com/cave/10.0001/0001.0001.0254
Fig. 23: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul
Fig. 24: National Museum of Korea. Retrieved from:
https://www.museum.go.kr/site/eng/relic/represent/view?relicId=2492
Fig. 25: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved from:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/40069
北京大学硕士学位论文
64
Fig. 26: The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art. Retrieved from:
https://asia.si.edu/object/F1911.252/
Fig. 27: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul
Fig. 28: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul
Fig. 29: Topkapı Palace Treasury Museum Library, Istanbul
Acknowledgements
65
Acknowledgements
This thesis was completed under the guidance of my thesis advisor, Professor Liu Chen,
in the School of Arts at Peking University. Throughout my studies and my writing process,
Professor Liu has given me invaluable insight and guidance. As the global pandemic posed
unexpected challenges to my studies and my research, her flexibility and support gave me
the possibility to move forward. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to her for her
patience and understanding. Additionally, I would like to thank Wang Rong, Zhang Fan, and
many others from the office staff of the Yenching Academy who were incredibly patient
with me and supported me through various challenges. I am greatly indebted to Yenching
Academy for providing me the opportunity to live and study in Beijing.
I am also grateful to my classmates, who offered me their invaluable moral support,
critical input throughout my writing process. I would also like to thank my family, who
encouraged me and cheered me on. Finally, I must also thank Cheng Ruogu, whose company
made this journey much more enjoyable.
北京大学硕士学位论文
66
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