Page 133 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

The lid, neck, body, and foot of the jug are inlaid with
scrolls made of twisted gold wire bearing delicately incised
leaves and blossoms, in the center of which are rubies and
lavender-colored stones, possibly amethysts. The piece has a
dragon-shaped handle; the open-mouthed head of the crea-
ture is attached to the rim, and the tail, terminating in floral
motifs, to the body. The head and tail of the dragon are in-
laid with leaves and ruby-centered blossoms; its body is deco-
rated with gold leaves, which reappear on the rim of the jug.
Inside the neck is an exquisitely rendered gold filter. In the
center of the filter is a small medallion composed of nielloed
rumis, set with a large turquoise, enclosed by a circular in-
scription written in sülüs and interspersed with saz leaves and
blossoms; enclosing the inscription is a nielloed braid and a
pierced saz scroll, which is also repeated on the inner walls of
63. Jeweled jade box, second quarter sixteenth century (Istanbul, Topkapi
Sarayi Miizesi, 2/2085) the rim.
A different technique appears on the underside of the lid.
The circular collar that fits into the neck is executed in gold

The boxes show slight variations in size and in the con-
struction of their brackets. One of them (63) has gilded silver
brackets framing the sides and the base, with a pair of
47
palmette-shaped braces securing the plaques. The brackets
are decorated with rumi braids placed on a nielloed ground
and encrusted with gems set into plain collars; turquoises are
used on the vertical brackets at the sides, while rubies appear
along the base and in the braces. The lid has a similarly deco-
rated clasp, which fastens to a loop at the side. The legs of
the box, also made of gilded silver, are arched-back dragons,
their tails and heads used as supports. The dragons face out,
their open mouths showing tiny teeth, recalling those on the
handles of the gilded silver jugs as well as the ones on the
slighly later gold and rock-crystal and black stone examples
(see 51, 52, 61, and 64). This box, most likely made to store
such precious items as jewels or gemstone seals, can be dated
to the same period as the gilded silver and tutya jugs, that is,
to the second quarter of the sixteenth century.
The characteristic Ottoman techniques applied to jades and
other hard stones appear in a gem-encrusted jug (64) that
combines the traditional Timurid shape with the court style of
decoration. The piece is carved from an unusual black mate-
rial, called "Herat stone" in the Topkapi Palace records. The
stone is too black to be jade, but as hard and sturdy. It is pos-
sible that the material is quartz, possibly black-stained chalce-
48
dony (known as black onyx) or obsidian. The same stone
can be seen in one other example, the famous jug bearing Is-
mail's name. Similar to tutya, this material enjoyed brief pop-
ularity in the Safavid court and was considered a novelty
when it first appeared there during the early sixteenth cen-
tury. A piece of this stone must have arrived in Istanbul and
been worked on by the gemstone carvers in the second half 64. Jeweled black stone jug with lid, second half sixteenth century (Istanbul,
of the sixteenth century, judging from its decorative style. Topkapi Sarayi Miizesi, 2/3831)

132 Detail of filter, 64