Key to the comprehensive divination (Tercüme-i Miftah-ı Cifrü’l-Cami), Turkish translation of the Arabic Miftah al-jafr al-jami`, by Shaykh `Abd al-Rahman al-Bistami (d. 1458), Unknown
Record status
Individual type · partial
Key to the comprehensive divination (Tercüme-i Miftah-ı Cifrü’l-Cami), Turkish translation of the Arabic Miftah al-jafr al-jami`, by Shaykh `Abd al-Rahman al-Bistami (d. 1458) held by Chester Beatty (Ireland). Collection record published through Europeana; the wider type is not yet verified.
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 1
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Historical context
Key to the comprehensive divination (Tercüme-i Miftah-ı Cifrü’l-Cami), Turkish translation of the Arabic Miftah al-jafr al-jami`, by Shaykh `Abd al-Rahman al-Bistami (d. 1458). This work on cryptic science draws from the divination tradition linked with the Shi`a Imam Ja`far al-Sadiq (d. 765), and discusses places, signs and prophecies of the apocalypse. This copy follows closely a late sixteenth-century manuscript dedicated to an earlier Ottoman sultan, except for the paintings: very unusually, the painter here has omitted figures from many of the landscape scenes, and has replaced the sultans' faces with roses. Codex, ink, colours and gold on paper, 423 folios, Turkish text in naskh script, 52 paintings, Key to the comprehensive divination and a lamp of brilliant light (Tercüme-i Miftah-ı Cifrü’l-Cami...), Turkish translation of the Arabic work (Miftah al-jafr al-jami` wa misbah al-nur al-lami), also titled The Set Pearls, Concerning the Secret of [God’s] Greatest Name (al-Durr al-munazzam fi sirr al-ism al-a‘zam), first composed in Arabic by Shaykh `Abd al-Rahman al-Bistami (d. 1458), abridged and translated into Turkish c. 1600 by Sharif ibn Sayyid Muhammad ibn Shaykh Sayyid Burhan, this manuscript copied (from a 1597-8 work dedicated to Sultan Mehmet III) by Hajji `Uthman al-Busnawi ("the Bosnian"), pupil of Ibrahim al-Rudusi ("from Rhodes"), produced for the future Ottoman sultan Mustafa III (r. 1757-73), Istanbul, Turkey, dated 1160H, 1747. (Description from Europeana (holding institution record); details apply to the illustrated example, not every object of this type.)
Identification
- Europeana id
- /1100/6018
- Museum attribution
- Unknown
- Museum object name
- Key to the comprehensive divination (Tercüme-i Miftah-ı Cifrü’l-Cami), Turkish translation of the Arabic Miftah al-jafr al-jami`, by Shaykh `Abd al-Rahman al-Bistami (d. 1458)
- Holding institution
- Chester Beatty
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.
Research required
- Research required: confirm materials, dimensions, maker and wider type against the holding institution and a specialist reference.