( fl c. 1582–?1605; d ?1623). Ottoman statesman and painter. He was one of the last exponents of the Ottoman tradition of historical illustration (see ISLAMIC ART, §III, 4(vi)(e)), and his carefully composed depictions of events contain clearly drawn, recognizable figures in detailed settings. He is first recorded in 1581, when he left his post as a page in the imperial household to enter the corps of palace doorkeepers (kapicis). He rose steadily through the Ottoman administrative hierarchy, becoming a member of the Council of State (with the title of Pasha) in 1604. During this early part of his career he was also a prolific painter, from which he took his epithet Nakkas (‘the Painter’). He probably trained under Osman, the head of the imperial painting studio, for his style follows the tradition established by Osman in the 1570s. His earliest paintings are in the Surname (‘Book of festivals’; Istanbul, Topkapi Pal. Lib., H. 1344), which records the circumcision festival held for the sons of Sultan Murad III in 1582. During the next two decades he contributed illustrations to over 20 manuscripts produced at court. For the six-volume copy of the Siyer-i Nebi, Darir’s biography of the Prophet Muhammad (text completed 1594–5), for example, he painted all 139 illustrations in the first volume and 111 of the 125 illustrations in the sixth (Istanbul, Topkapi Pal. Lib., H. 1221, 1223).

• Hasan, Nakkas
  • Islamic art, §III, 4(vi)(e): Painted book illustration, c 1500–c 1900: Ottoman empire