Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 14. (Budapest, 1994)
DOBROVITS Mihály: Egy Kába-miniatúrával díszített XVIII. századi török kézirat a Hopp Ferenc Kelet-Ázsiai Művészeti Múzeumból
s army, is placed exactly in the centre of the book, between the list of the names of the warriors of Faith and the glorifying poem so that the natural pictoral proportions remained intact. Tha painter achieves an exceptional effect in his picture through this composition. Combining the traditions of Eastern miniature painting and Western veduta schools, it became possible that beside the fundamentally Western concept composition the tendencies of Eastern artistic traditions i. e. the programmelike, illustrative character that shows the picture that should be seen instead of the real view remained intact. Nevertheless, we should not forget one basic difference. While the function of the traditional Eastern miniature art is the illustration of the volume, this picture plays a great role in the organization of the volume since the Great Mosque of Mecca and the Kaba are the spiritual centre of the Islamic world. 10 If he can afford it, every follower of Islam should visit them at least once in his life on a traditional pilgrimage. The believers of Prophet Muhammad having moved from Mecca to Medina fought for this. The poem included in this volume speaks of them, of their glory and the spiritual contact to be established with them. So. for the reader of this volume. the Kaba sanctuary represented in the miniature painting constitutes the centre of the volume, the ideological or spiritual centre of the texts in the volume, and as the reader is supposed to be a believer in Islam, the centre of his personal faith, too. This central role is emphasized by the above-mentioned structure in which the perspective - albeit Western - makes the Kaba the centre of the picture. Comparing our miniature with the Kaba representation of Fadä ' il Yasrîb from 1620, some 150 years earlier than ours" (ill. 6.), we can clearly understand the difference between the two views, i. e. what could have been added to Eastern view and technique through Western-type training. The compositional principle of the old style miniature is the accurate, map-like representation. It was not its aim to express the writer's thoughts through his artistic means as a view, but to inform more accurately concerning the place depicted in the text. That is why it renounces the representation of the physical view and this fact explains the presence of inscriptions on the picture. On the other hand, the later miniature painter could afford to take care of the view with a uniform composition of the volume in mind, as the programme is guaranteed by the composition of the volume itself.
