Page 199 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

123. Talismanic shirt made for §ehzadc Sclim in 1564/1565 (Istanbul,
Topkapi Sarayí Müzesi, 13/1133)

long-sleeved kaftan with slits at the sides. Wide bands at the were executed by nakka§hane members. 56
shoulders, cuffs, underarm and side seams, hem, and front A second talismanic shirt (123) is unusually cut: it is
openings are decorated with rows of inscriptions alternately shorter, has a slit at the neck, and fastens along the under-
written in gold, blue, black, and red sülüs, enclosing a frieze arms and sides with a series of ties. Made of white linen lined
of scrolls bearing hatayi blossoms and rumis that are com- with red silk, its design consists of squares filled with magical
posed entirely of microscopic gubari script. numbers and letters painted in black, blue, and red inks in
The front of the shirt contains a pair of vertically placed, addition to gold and silver; Koranic verses and prayers writ-
almost rectangular panels framed by additional rows of in- ten in gold sülüs appear in bands encircling the sides, sleeves,
scriptions. These panels as well as the surrounding areas are and hem.
filled with rumi and hatayi scrolls that enclose medallions The gold band around the neck is inscribed with Koranic
and cartouches painted with gold, blue, and red designs. In- verses rendered in black sülüs. The triangle below the slit
terspersed between them are gold and blue squares contain- contains a dedication giving the name "Selim Han bin el-Sul-
ing makili kufi inscriptions. Additional inscriptions written in tan Süleyman Han." On each side is a large medallion,
different inks and scripts appear in the horizontal panels be- framed in silver, enclosing a star containing black kufi in-
low the rectangles as well as along the hem. The back has a scriptions. The back of the shirt is also covered with magical
large central diamond filled with inscribed squares and a squares. Written in a star-shaped unit in the middle of the
wide panel at the hem decorated with cartouches composed lower edge are the name of the maker, Dervi§ Ahmed b. Sü-
of rumis, cloud bands, and hatayi scrolls. leyman, and the year 1564/1565.
The inscriptions employing diverse scripts and styles would The shirt, made for Selim a year before his accession to the
have been written by highly competent court calligraphers. throne, is the only talismanic shirt that is signed by the
The illuminations, on the other hand, show a close resem- maker. Dervi§ Ahmed must have prepared the magical num-
blance to tugras and manuscript decorations dating from bers, calculated the numerical values of the digits and letters
the second quarter of the sixteenth century, and probably used in the onomancy, and most likely produced the shirt.

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