Page 213 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

disintegrated) on a ruby-red ground. One of the scrolls con- main themes or to the background, with the design rendered
tains oversize blossoms at the intersecting points of the ogees, in metallic threads. One of these çatmas, combining green
connected by thick curving branches that cut through the velvet-outlined gold tulips and pinecones on a ruby-red
flowers of the second scroll. These oversize blossoms have a ground, was found in the Mausoleum of Hurrem Sultan; 77
central roundel enclosed by five concentric zones in which another, employing ruby-red velvet tulips on a silver ground,
plain gold alternates with red or blue. A pomegranate grow- was made into a ceremonial kaftan for Murad III. 78
ing from the top of each blossom provides a direction to the A group of çatmas is decorated with superimposed scrolls
otherwise overall pattern. that form an ogival pattern. One of the earlier examples in
The second scroll, which has split leaves, trefoils, composite the series (148) has a highly complex design rendered in gold
rumis, and branches sprouting from its sides, bears four dif- on a ruby-red velvet ground with details executed in cut pile.
ferent hybrid flowers. The larger examples, their centers filled It contains two sets of vertically placed overlapping ogival
with red blossoms enclosed by blue roundels, are placed at medallions superimposed on a spiral scroll that radiates from
the intersecting points of the medallions. The remaining types a central hatayi enclosed by a scalloped ring of cloud bands.
are composed of various lobed layers enclosing blue, red, and The hatayi is at once within the core of one ogival medallion
gold central roundels, using multiples of threes and sixes. and constitutes the upper and lower points of the second. In
This fragment, originally attached to four other small pieces addition, the scrolls that form these medallions are overlaid
that were later removed, appears to have belonged to a kaf- with blossoms and cartouches, sprout branches bearing blos-
tan. Another piece from the same garment is in the Victoria soms and buds, and terminate with a pair of large rumis that
and Albert Museum. join the central hatayi. The spiral scroll, which creates sym-
A less-common pattern is composed of parallel rows of un- metrical volutes around the central hatayi and under the
dulating stems bearing floral motifs, which create diagonals composite rumis, bears tiny blossoms, buds, leaves, and
and horizontals that counterbalance the strong vertical thrust hooked extensions.
of the design. This pattern appears on a fragment from a The large rumis and hatayis, as well as the spiral scroll,
kemha kaftan in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (147). recall the designs employed on Süleyman's tugras. Similar
The stems are decorated with chevrons and bordered with ar- motifs were used to decorate the tiles in the Mausoleum of
79
ticulated bands. They sprout alternating branches that bear Selim I (1522/1523), and the painted wood panels in the
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large leaves, delicate tulips, and large tulips or hatayis. The Mausoleum of §ehzade Mehmed (1548), which indicates
branches split into two; one section has a large leaf growing that the designs formulated in the nakka§hane were quickly
diagonally toward the left or the right, accompanied by a tu- applied to the other arts. This velvet should be dated to the
lip; the other section pierces the stem, terminating in a blos- second quarter of the sixteenth century, based on the stylistic
som facing the opposite direction, and has a small rounded features of the period.
leaf overlapping the stem. The large leaves are overlaid with Some of the çatmas with ogival patterns employ both gold
sprays of carnations and tulips or five-petaled flowers, hatayi and voided superimposed scrolls on a pile ground; others use
blossoms, and buds. The large tulips, oriented to the left, con- one set of connected ogival medallions without overlapping.
tain polychrome hatayi blossoms and buds; the large hatayis, The chronological sequence of these examples has yet to be
oriented right, contain tulips flanking a central carnation with determined. Although it is tempting to attribute the more
overlapping leaves around their outer petals. complex designs to the earlier half of the sixteenth century
The undulating stems, curving branches, and alternating and the simpler examples, which frequently incorporated
orientation of leaves and blossoms create a softly swaying such Italianate elements as crowns, to a later period, these
movement as if the plants are caught in the wind. The com- features may reflect different workshops and markets (some
bination of saz elements (hatayi blossoms and buds, serrate velvets woven for the palace, others for domestic consump-
leaves, and piercing branches) with naturalistic flowers tion and export) rather than a chronological sequence. Even
(sprays of tulips and carnations) is most skillfully conceived the products of the court workshops must have varied de-
and executed, harmoniously blending the two traditions. pending on the uses of the çatmas; the ones made for impe-
There are relatively few kemhas with vertical-stem patterns. rial garments and furnishings were more refined than those
One sixteenth-century piece, bearing alternating pinecones used elsewhere in the palace.
and pomegranates, was made into a large portfolio; 74 others The decoration of a refined çatma fragment (149) appears
were fashioned into kaftans. 75 There are also seventeenth- at first to employ a complex overall pattern. Its design is ac-
76
century examples using the same design. The pattern was tually based on a vertical-stem pattern that contains two al-
employed on an embroidered quilt cover (see 136). ternating medallions. The motifs were executed on a dark
Vertical stems were also used in a type of fabric called green ground in pistachio-green and pale ruby red as well as
çatma, a brocaded and voided velvet that combines satin silver, which was wrapped around ivory, yellow, and orange
weave with cut pile. Velvet weave was applied either to the silks to create three different metallic tones.

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