ART: Persian, Turkish royalty pictured the future

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By Deborah K. Dietsch

Former first lady Nancy Reagan turns out to be in esteemed company for conferring with an astrologer to plan her husband's schedule while in the White House.

Persian shahs, Turkish sultans and courtly circles during the 16th and 17th centuries also consulted their horoscopes before making important decisions, seeking advice from a beautifully illustrated book called the Falnama.

Pages from three of these albums are on view at the Smithsonian's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery for the first time to reveal an extravagant art of fortune-telling. The rare manuscripts don't only come from the Smithsonian's collection, but the Topkapi Palace Library in Istanbul, Turkey, the Louvre in Paris, the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, Ireland, and New York's Metropolitan Museum. (Works from the fourth surviving volume, now belonging to the State University Library in Dresden, Germany, are not on view).

No two Falnamas follow the same format, but they share common imagery. From a bird-riding Hippocrates to horned evil beasts, the captivating watercolor and ink scenes in these prognosticating books were meant to help the reader absorb the wisdom dispensed in accompanying texts.

The Sackler and Freer galleries' Islamic art curator Massumeh Farhad organized the exhibit according to these visual themes rather than chronology or geography so viewers unfamiliar with Islamic culture can at least enjoy the pictures.

They may be surprised to find representations of familiar figures from the Bible and the Prophet Muhammad whose face is shown covered with a veil or as a featureless head emanating light. Islamic religious tradition discourages such depictions, but this ban didn't apply to the secular Falnama, which pictured seers to inspire moral conduct.

Produced about 1591-92 (around the year 1000 in the Muslim calendar), the Falnamas grew out of the trepidation that the millennium signaled the end of the world. These spectacular forecasting tools developed from divination tables appended to Korans, some of which introduce the exhibit. They were consulted by rulers and commoners alike, but the exhibit focuses solely on the deluxe folios commissioned by royalty.

In addition to works on paper, the show includes ornate gold, silver and steel standards ornamented with Koranic verses. These finials were carried on long shafts for divine protection during military campaigns and religious processions.

The earliest of the Falnamas was made between the late 1550s to early 1560s at the court of Persian Shah Tahmasb, the second ruler of the Safavid dynasty. It was created at a time when this ruler, an avid arts supporter, had become increasingly concerned with his legacy.

Another lavish volume was compiled from 1614 to 1616 for Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I, the patron of the celebrated Blue Mosque in Istanbul.