Page 30 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

The Nakka§hane

he reign of Süleyman was a most creative period in Otto- those in Edirne or in the sancaks of the princes.
Tman art, during which an indigenous decorative vocabu- One of the groups in the Ehl-i Hiref was called the
lary was established. Without doubt the phenomenal burst of Cemaat-i Nakka^an (Society of Painters) and comprised art-
energy seen in the artistic production of the age owed much ists whose duty was to decorate the manuscripts commis-
to the efforts of the nakka§hane members who formulated sioned for the imperial libraries. They produced tens of thou-
the themes and concepts that came to characterize Ottoman sands of books on religious, historical, literary, and scientific
decorative arts and set the standards for their high technical subjects, the best of which were housed in the Hazine of the
and aesthetic achievements. palace, while others were distributed to various other depart-
All the arts and crafts required by the state were under- ments or presented to the educational institutions of the en-
taken by the Ehl-i Hiref, which consisted of a number of soci- dowments. These artists also provided designs used by other
eties that represented a variety of professions, including cal- craftsmen, such as weavers, potters, stone carvers, and wall
ligraphers, painters, bookbinders, goldsmiths, jewelers, painters. The term nakkac (plural nakkacan) was all-encom-
woodworkers, weavers, tailors, hatmakers, and boot makers, passing and was applied to men who created decorative
as well as such unlikely occupations as surgeons and wres- themes; they could apply their talents to the illumination of
tlers. Each society was organized in similar fashion with a manuscripts, at which time they were called müzehhib; or to
chief, deputy chief, group of masters, and apprentices. The the illustration of texts, becoming ressam or musavvir, that is,
members were paid daily wages by the state, which were painters who represented figures and settings. It is surprising
duly recorded in payroll registers drawn four times a year. 1 that there was no term to distinguish paintings from draw-
Some projects required special personnel and expenditures, ings, which were rendered with both bold and delicate
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which were also carefully registered in the ledgers. Salaries brushstrokes and shaded with washes and tints.
and advancement in rank followed a predetermined system, There were other men who practiced the art of painting in
but the artists were given additional raises and bonuses when addition to those employed in the nakka^hane. Some be-
they performed exceptional tasks. Master artists presented longed to the guilds of illuminators, decorators, and painters
gifts to the sultan during bayram (religious holiday) celebra- in the capital and other major centers; others were individu-
tions—and received in return cash bonuses as well as such als who indulged in this art form while involved with other
awards of honor as brocaded-satin or velvet kaftans (robes). professions. Evliya Çelebi, a famous traveler who wrote ex-
Since the courts in the provincial capitals followed the tensively about the life in the Ottoman world during the first
same structure as that in Istanbul, they also retained a similar quarter of the seventeenth century, listed hundreds of artisans
group of artists and craftsmen. The Ehl-i Hiref in the sancaks and craftsmen in Istanbul, some of whom were illuminators
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of the cehzades included the same mixture of professions. and painters. He mentioned that there were one thousand
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Documents dating from Süleyman's tenure as governor in nakka§ who worked in one hundred shops. Their main
Kefe and Manisa indicate that he had a large staff of artists in headquarters was above the Arslanhane, a building that once
his court; they included hatmakers, furriers, halbard makers, stood on the north side of the first courtyard of the Topkapi
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bow makers, goldsmiths, saddlers, and musicians. There are Palace. The ressam guild was relatively small, with four shops
also notations in the registers that state some artists from the and forty members. There was also a group called falciyan
Istanbul Ehl-i Hiref were transferred to other palaces, such as (fortune-tellers), who used paintings to predict the future.
Members of the central administration also tried their hand
Detail, 39a at painting; several were extremely proficient and either illus-

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