The Illuminations of Mukhlis ibn ʿAbdallah al-Hindi 41 CAILAH JACKSON THE ILLUMINATIONS OF MUKHLIS IBN ʿABDALLAH AL-HINDI: IDENTIFYING MANUSCRIPTS FROM LATE MEDIEVAL KONYA This article discusses the illumination of two manu- scripts produced in Konya in 677 (1278)—a pocket Qurʾan1 and a monumental copy of Jalal al-Din Rumi’s Mas̱navī-i maʿnavī2 (The Spiritual Couplets, hereafter Mas̱navī)—along with several other manuscripts that I propose were also produced there. The Qurʾan and Mas̱navī were both extensively and expertly decorated by the same artist, one Mukhlis ibn ʿAbdallah al-Hindi. Although Mukhlis must have been one among several illuminators working in late medieval Konya, the fact that he is named in two manuscripts with secure ori- gins provides compelling evidence that permits us to look more closely at illumination from the town. Indeed, I will argue below that Mukhlis’s distinctive style of illu- mination is also present (to varying extent) in a number of currently unidentified or misidentified manuscripts. Surviving evidence shows that Konya was an active center of illuminated manuscript production and pa- tronage in the late medieval period, despite contempo- rary political upheaval.3 Following the breakdown of Seljuk rule after their defeat by Mongol forces at the Battle of Kösedağ in 1243, political authority in the re- gion was soon divided between Mongol governors, Turk- ish beys, and ambitious local bureaucrats. The rest of the thirteenth century, and much of the fourteenth, wit- nessed a succession of violent uprisings by both Mongol and Turkmen leaders struggling for power in a politi- cally fractured landscape. The complexity of the political context makes the pe- riod challenging to study. There are also historiographi- cal reasons why manuscripts from medieval Rum have been relatively overlooked in Islamic art scholarship. In most cases, they lack explicit dynastic connections. The study of Islamic art is often oriented around dynasties, and the division of the period into “Seljuk,” “Beylik” or “pre-Ottoman,” and “Ottoman” has often obscured or downplayed the activities of nonimperial patrons.4 Fur- thermore, most manuscripts from medieval Rum are unillustrated. The historical emphasis in secondary lit- erature on figurative painting (compared to illumina- tion, calligraphy, and bookbinding) has given the erroneous impression that the arts of the book in the region before the Ottomans came to power were rela- tively meager.5 After introducing key aspects of the illumination of the two 1278 manuscripts, I discuss the illumination of five further manuscripts and to what extent they can be connected to the hand of Mukhlis himself. Fi- nally, I examine a manuscript produced shortly before 732 (1332) that was almost certainly not decorated by Mukhlis but does make visual references to his illumi- nation of the 1278 Mas̱navī. Although a fuller codico- logical analysis of the 1278 Qurʾan and Mas̱navī would provide a rich context for learning more about the people and places involved in artistic production and patronage in late medieval Konya, this has been done elsewhere.6 Instead, the present article is concerned with illumination only.7 A focus on illumination in this case can help to establish new origins for unidentified manuscripts, or those previously labeled as “Mamluk,” for example. Such a focus also reveals the existence of an active community of artists in Konya, whose work has survived the ages even if their names have not. I have tentatively named this community the “Konya school,” a term that will be discussed at the end of the article. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/22118993-00361P03 Downloaded from Brill.com10/15/2019 12:24:16PM via King's College London