Page 147 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

decorated with floral and rumi scrolls placed on a niello
ground. The same design is used on the sides of the palmette,
the globe, and the upper edge of the shaft. The back has a
large rounded socket affixed to the center, extending from the
edge of the palmette to its tip. This component has nielloed
cloud bands between the gems, while the remaining areas
show the same design used on the face.
The use of niello, floral and rumi scrolls, and gems set into
petaled mounts and prongs suggests a mid-sixteenth-century
date. This ornament, which is at once robust and delicate,
must have been made for a member of the royal family, pos­
sibly for Süleyman himself.

Detail of front, 83

83. Jeweled and nielloed gold turban ornament (back), mid-sixteenth
century (Istanbul, Topkapi Sarayi Miizesi, 2/2912)

saz scrolls filling the interstices; the background is ring
matted. The unit above the shaft shows vertical bars that al­
ternate with branches bearing hatayis and leaves placed on a
ring-matted ground. It is joined to the shaft by rivets. 6 0
i
One of the largest turban ornaments n the Hazine of the
Topkapi Palace (83) combines the techniques of the last two
examples discussed above, employing niello inlaying as well
as gem encrustation. Shaped as a flat lobed palmette with a
finial, it has a globe above the shaft and a pair of hooked
chains. Both faces of the palmette as well as its sides and the
i
globe are encrusted with rubies and turquoises set n petaled
mounts that rise high above the surface; each of the chains is
set with a pair of addorsed turquoise stones that share the
same pronged mount.
The front of the palmette contains a large sapphire in the
i
center surrounded by four diamonds n addition to rubies and
turquoises. A large ruby appears on the finial. The field is

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