Book Border Ornament: Aks-sozi

In the 16th century, the decoration of the margins of manuscript books reached its peak. In the leading libraries, that is, in workshops, an aks-sozi —a way of expressing decorative patterns depicting various animals, birds, and, of course, people...

Paintings in the Aks style were painted in gold, as well as in other dyes prepared by mixing egg whites. Images of animals and birds were organically added to the decorations, and sometimes depicted in a real environment. Sometimes there are compositions involving people engaged in various activities. Often, the landscapes placed in the margins differ from the main miniature in that they are represented in the same color.

Among the drawings on the margin of the sheet, there are those that are not inferior to the main miniature in terms of plot richness or color. The page "A young man reading a book" from an unknown manuscript, currently kept in the Louvre, is one such rare specimen.

The miniature by the famous artist Muhammad Sharif depicts a young man holding a divan in his hand, apparently containing a love poem. Her dress seems to be composed of many other images. The origin of such compositional (complex) images in the art of miniature has not yet been fully studied.

Outside the frame highlighting the main character, various plot scenes created by another artist—the famous Samarkand miniaturist Muhammad Murod Samarkandi—are placed; Samarkandi's name has also been preserved in the margins of the page.