Page 168 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

most popular materials, surviving to the present day. The earlier throne (107), which must have been made for
The series of objects that establishes this chronology begins Suleyman, is shaped as a settee with four straight legs and a
with an ivory-inlaid walnut Koran box produced for Bayezid high triangular back. Constructed of five components that
II in 1505/1506 by an artist named Ahmed b. Hasan. 10 0 A lock together (two pieces constitute the back, two the sides,
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second piece, a small ebony box made for Selim , is inlaid and one the seat), it was conveniently dismantled and trans­
with white and green tinted ivory; it also employs silver strips ported. This portable throne, made of walnut, is totally cov­
and small units with minuscule mosaiclike inlays, indicating ered with ebony, ivory, and mother-of-pearl inlays; its legs,
that this technique was practiced during his reign. Another arms, and back are decorated with geometric and floral com­
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ivory-inlaid example dating from the second quarter of the positions. The seat is painted with an overall pattern of dou­
sixteenth century is a hexagonal Koran box found in the ble wavy lines, an ingredient of the çintemani pattern, ren­
mausoleum of Siileyman's son, §ehzade Mehmed, who died dered in black on a dull-yellow ground. The outer panels of
in 1543. 10 2 A related piece is a rahle (see 108), inlaid with the arms and lower back contain inlaid-ivory geometric de­
ivory and ebony and decorated with mosaic units, found in signs that radiate from twelve-pointed stars and create a se­
the Mausoleum of Hiirrem Sultan, who died in 1558. A fifth ries of polygons. The inner faces of these areas are decorated
datable example comes from the Mausoleum of Selim II. This with alternating ovals and roundels enclosing ivory-inlaid
large Koran box (see 111) inlaid with ivory, mother-of-pearl, rumis. Bands with meander patterns inlaid with thin strips of
and mosaic panels indicates that by the third quarter of the silver encircle these panels on both sides.
sixteenth century the use of mother-of-pearl was fully The high back employs the same design on both faces. A
established. palmette crest rises above the sloping articulated edges com­
The most splendid pieces are those that incorporate tortoise- posed of trefoils flanked by rumis, rendered in reserve on an
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shell inlays. The earliest appearance of this material is on a inlaid-ivory background. n the center is a large lobed medal­
bookbinding made for an imperial album around 1560 (see lion inlaid with mother-of-pearl. It contains trefoils, pal-
49a). This shell must have been such a new and novel item mettes, and leaves radiating from a blossom, in the core of
at the time that it was employed in this unusual manner. By which is a large turquoise set into a gold mount shaped like a
the last quarter of the sixteenth century, it was widely used multipetaled flower. The medallion is flanked by ivory-inlaid
and applied to architectural decoration. The most celebrated elements that consist of a pair of ovals with trefoil pendants
master of the following century was Sedefkar Mehmed Aga, and a series of triple balls. The ovals are composed of inter­
who produced dazzling pieces for his patron Ahmed , in­ secting continuous bands that loop around a central blossom.
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cluding a Koran box for his mausoleum and furnishings and Carved ivory finíais, once surmounted by gems, are affixed to
doors for his mosque in addition to the throne mentioned the front and back projections of the arms, the latter resting
earlier (see fig. 17). 10 3 on triangular panels and thus rising higher. These triangles as
Many of the inlaid-wood pieces were donated to the well as those on the legs are decorated with ivory-inlaid
turbes. Although a number were produced and placed in the cloud bands.
mausoleums shortly after the personages died, others were The throne was also inlaid with gemlike mosaic lozenges
removed from older buildings and transferred to newly con­ and hexagons containing microscopic bits of white ivory,
structed tombs. Therefore not all the furnishings and objects green-dyed ivory, and silver. They appear on the frames
found in the turbes can be dated to the time the owner died. around the seat, arms, and upper and lower sections of the
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For instance, the Koran box of Bayezid I, made in 1505/ back.
1506, came from the Mausoleum of Selim ; the Mausoleum The same decorative vocabulary was employed on a rahle
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of Ahmed , the richest of all, contained fifteenth-century ex­ (108) found in the Mausoleum of Hiirrem Sultan. This piece
amples as well as mid-sixteenth-century pieces. Turbe items, must have been made in the same workshop by the artists
nevertheless, are extremely valuable in studying the chrono­ who produced the throne. With the exception of mother-of-
logical sequence of styles and techniques as well as the tradi­ pearl, it is inlaid with the same materials, ebony and ivory,
tion of presenting gifts for perpetuating the memory of the with occasional silver strips highlighting the design.
deceased, a concept that was unique to Turkish dynasties. The rahle consists of two pieces that join together by
The Topkapi Palace contains two inlaid wood thrones, one hinges. Each piece contains two components: the smaller up­
of which was made for Ahmed I in the early seventeenth per panel, which cradles the book, and the larger lower
century. The date of the other is not fully established, but panel, which supports the stand.
the use of ivory and mother-of-pearl inlay points to the mid- The outer surfaces of the upper panels are decorated with
sixteenth century; the date is supported also by stylistic evi­ ivory-inlaid geometric designs radiating from a central star
dence, similar designs having been employed on inlaid wood framed by a braid. The inner faces show a central oval with
furnishings from the mausoleums of Hiirrem Sultan and axial pendants, surrounded by corner quadrants, and en­
Selim I. closed by a wide meander-pattern frame. These elements are
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