Ruzname calendar scroll

Ruzname. Ottoman Tanzimat era calendar scroll (Ruzname) with armillary sphere adornment.

€ 4,500.00

This is an extremely fine example of a ruzname, or a Muslim calendar scroll. This calendar scroll opens in a typical book format with an illuminated headpiece and, like a manuscript, ends with a colophon at the very bottom. This portable scroll is used for tracking daily prayer times, length of days, the times of sunset and sunrise. A ruzname (a note on days) is a portable reference calendar in a form of a rotulus. They became popular in the Ottoman Empire as manuscripts in red and black on vellum and later as lithographs in same colours on paper. They are usually circa 100 cm or longer and 8-9 cm wide, and protected with an embossed flap made of leather or embossed paper. The decorative headpiece, the motif of which can vary, is called serlevha and the text is often accompanied with explanatory text in margins. All examples ruzname are rare because they were, as calendars, usually thrown away after a year of use.

Very good, a few minor tears and chips with tiny loss to text, usual nail holes to the upper part, but overall clean and bright, wanting one bone roller.