Musicians and dancers performing before the grand vizier

 

31a

 

30b

This is the only single-page miniature in the book. It shows İbrahim Pasha and his steward Mehmed Pasha being entertained by a group of musicians, dancers, and clowns on the morning of the second day, before the sultan has made his appearance at Okmeydanı. The five dancers at the center of the foreground of (31a) are known as çengi (a public dancing girl) and each one clutches a pair of castanet-like instruments in both hands. The musicians, arrayed in a line at the left, are playing on drums, tambourines, and a primitive double-reed instrument called a zurna. Servants and a couple of guards are scattered here and there. Four clowns (probably sackers without their sacks) at the bottom of the image are burlesquing the proceedings. Vehbi's description of the proceedings on (30b) is as lively as the scene itself:

The colorful and thrilling events of the second of the joy-filled days of the festival

The next day, Thursday the 16th of Dhu al-Qa’da,

By the author

In the morning, when the sultan of the east adorned the fourth throne of the sky
And, having gathered up the stars of the dark night, erected its golden-globed tent so as to observe the world from a bird’s-eye view.
Clearly it had come to observe the revels of the auspicious festival using its lengthy rays as a spyglass.

The imperial throne, the seat of the mirror of happiness, had been cleansed of the dust of kohl from the eyes of those who had rubbed their faces on its threshold with the broom-like wing-feathers of the fortunate bird of paradise and its appearance had been rendered lovely with a cover of thick satin brocade embroidered with gold. However as it had not yet been the recipient of the praiseworthy gleam of the candle of the imperial presence, the pavilion of the Pleiades-crowned sultan resembled a ring whose stone had not been set. Therefore the first to make an appearance before the pavilion of the imperial deputy were the sackers, the grotesquely-garbed, bizarre-looking men whose business is to entertain by acting like buffoons. They inaugurated the jolly proceedings with a rowdy and boisterous performance that transformed the surroundings of the tent into a saffron-garden of merry laughter. They were followed by troops of dancers–countless fairy-faced beauties who clasped hands and danced in unison.

The sea’s waves could learn a lesson in shaking from their wriggling, undulating hips.
And as they danced and wriggled lithely

Poesy

Their singing caused their listeners to wiggle; their refrains seduced the crowd.
An old man watching them would break his cane into four.
If he had but an opportunity to see them dance he would hasten to join in.

As they danced thus, writhing and circling their waists and hips the hearts of the spectators swung like a clock pendulum and fell captive to the beating excitement in their longing to join them. This musical merry-making before the grand vizier’s pavilion continued for an hour or two. The cymbals of the tambourines in the dancers’ hands animated the spectators who had come and hunkered down in a circle around them to watch.

Notes:

1. 16th of Dhu al-Qa'da: 19 September 1720.

2. Imperial deputy: Grand Vizier İbrahim Pasha. As usual, he presides over events in the sultan's absence.

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