The Bird in Myth (Original)

While miniature art generally deals with historical, literary, and scientific subjects, Turkish-Ottoman miniatures focused mostly on historical themes. However, in this work, the artist chose to paint a mythological bird that was not bound by classical subjects, time, or space. Mürvet Bilgin has recreated the mythologic bird Simurgh, a benevolent, mythical bird in Persian mythology, and has beautifully replicated the mythological figure by reflecting her imagination of the bird in colour. In addition, the artist has enhanced the scene by adding cloud-like motifs, which have added movement to the scene and affected the stance of the bird in the centre. The bird is originally black-and-white (located in the T.K.S Museum H.2160).

Materials:

• Watercolour, Gouache and Acrylic painting on paper

Dimensions:

• With frame     : 30.5 x 39 cm
• Without frame: 32 x 30.5 cm

* This particular artwork was featured in the ‘The Noble: Traditional Turkish Arts Exhibition’ in London.