Siyer-i Nebi Miniatures
This collection brings together the surviving rare folios of the Siyer-i Nebi manuscript, regarded as the most comprehensive visual biography in Turkish-Islamic art history.
Prepared at the end of the 16th century (1594–1595) by Nakkaş Osman and the palace workshop under the command of Sultan Murad III, this magnificent work presents the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) from birth to passing in a chronological visual narrative. In the miniatures featured in our collection, you can examine in the finest detail the grace of the Ottoman artist’s approach to the “sacred,” the sensitivity of “face concealment” (the veil) in depictions of the Prophet, and the aesthetic sensibilities of the era.
Prepared at the end of the 16th century (1594–1595) by Nakkaş Osman and the palace workshop under the command of Sultan Murad III, this magnificent work presents the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) from birth to passing in a chronological visual narrative. In the miniatures featured in our collection, you can examine in the finest detail the grace of the Ottoman artist’s approach to the “sacred,” the sensitivity of “face concealment” (the veil) in depictions of the Prophet, and the aesthetic sensibilities of the era.