Courtly Splendor in the Islamic World - The Metropolitan Museum of ...

Detail, image 26
ottoman art
Two different but distinctly Ottoman styles emerged in the court workshop.
The first, called saz, combined floral palmettes and curving, featherlike
leaves. The second, called the floral style, featured flowers, namely carnations,
hyacinths, honeysuckles, roses, and tulips. Together these two styles have
come to epitomize Ottoman Turkish art.
The imperial workshop at the Ottoman court worked exclusively for
the sultan, his household, and the highest ranking officials. The most
talented artists, designers, weavers, bookbinders, and calligraphers were
recruited from regions all over the empire. Successful designs were copied
and used repeatedly. When an order for the court was especially large, the
royal workshop would contract external craftsmen, who would then become
familiar with the court’s designs. Such interactions helped spread these
patterns throughout the empire. As a result, works of art in the official court
style were produced throughout the empire in many media, including carpets
woven in Cairo and throughout Asia Minor, silk velvets woven in Bursa, and
brilliantly colored ceramic wares and tiles made in Iznik, near Istanbul.
Mosques from Baghdad to Budapest used a distinctly Ottoman
architectural style, developed in part by the famous Ottoman architect Sinan.
This style, which features a central plan, lead-covered domes, and slender
minarets, visually conveyed the identity of the Ottomans from the capital in
Istanbul to the farthest reaches of the empire (see fig. 6).
unit 5: chapter 2. art and empire: the ottoman court
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