violently out of an old book which I couldn’t identify； perhaps a collage album。
Obviously； Master Osman was overlooking quite a lot。
When we came to his own worktable； Nuri Effendi proudly stated that he
finished a gilded royal insignia for Our Sultan； which he’d been working on for
three weeks。 I respectfully admired Nuri Effendi’s gold inlay and the insignia；
which had been made on an empty sheet to ensure that its recipient and the
reason for its being sent would remain secret。 I knew well enough that many
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impetuous pashas in the East had refrained from rebellion upon seeing the
noble and potent splendor of the Sultan’s royal insignia。
Next； we saw the last masterpieces that Jemal the Calligrapher had
transcribed； pleted and left behind； but we passed over them hastily to
avoid giving credence to opponents of color and decoration who maintained
that true art consisted of calligraphy alone and that decorative illumination
was simply a secondary means of adding emphasis。
Nas？r the Limner was making a mess of a plate he intended to repair from a
version of the Quintet of Nizami dating back to the era of Tamerlane’s sons；
the picture depicted Hüsrev looking at a naked Shirin as she bathed。
A niy…two…year…old former master who was half blind and had nothing
to say besides claiming that sixty years ago he kissed Master Bizhad’s hand in
Tabriz and that the great master of legend was blind and drunk at the time；
showed us with trembling hands the ornamentation on the pen box he would
present as a holiday gift to Our Sultan when it was pleted three months
hence。