The Oldest Turkish Illustrated Documents

The oldest illustrated documents on paper among Turkish tribes, are from the period succeeding Akhuns. These documents dating from 717-719 are in Turkish, Chinese and Arabic and they belong to a Turkish emir who battled with Moslem armies in Pencikent near Samarkand. This prince was taken prisoner, and his palace was ruined 722. The wall drawing are the most important part of Turkish cultural treasures. Von le Coq who has researched Central Asian Turkish culture writes this: "Turks have scattered all of their written cultural products in the dusty roads of steppes and deserts while migrating to the west."

Samarkand was renowned during 6^th-8^th centuries by its drawing workshops where illustrations on wood, plaster and leather were made. These works influenced greatly the Anatolian Seljuk period. The most important development of the 9^th century Uygur Turks in the art of painting, was accomplished by the painters and their school in the town of Kizilkent. Their sense of light in pictures and their search for the influence and impression of shadow and light, served largely for the formation of Seljuk miniature school and canalized it.

The Tun-Huang monastery and library of Uygur Turks has a special importance. Among thousands of books in the library there are the oldest Turkish gilded and miniature manuscripts. The oldest wooden print and illustrated book in the world belongs to Uygurs and is in the above library. The date of the book is 868. Another important aspect of this find is that some manuscripts have been written in letters same with the ones on the G÷kt’rk Orhun epitaphs.