Page 40 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

1. Illuminated tugra of Sultan Sülcyman, c. 1550 (Istanbul, Topkapi Sarayí
Müzesi, G.Y. 1400)

The document, which is written in a scroll format like all ticularly favored in illuminated official documents.
Ottoman fermans, is devoted to the allocation of lands under The scroll that encloses the tugra and creates a triangular
the sancak of Vize in Thrace; it is transcribed in divani, the formation is an unusual feature for Süleyman's reign. The il-
traditional script for imperial edicts. The first line, which is luminations of the tugras of his predecessor and immediate
found in all Ottoman tugras and generally rendered in gold, followers are limited to the areas between the letters and do
begins with the marks called ni§an-i §erife alijan (reading from not enclose the entire piece. Finials extending from the tug
right to left, it consists of a single dot, three dots forming a and arms of the beyze began to appear in the seventeenth
triangle, and a vertical stroke) and contains the formulaic met- century and became more and more elaborate until they to-
hiye, which praises the sultan and concludes with the words tally engulfed the tugra. The overly-decorated examples coex-
"it is his order that/' In this example the first line was ren- isted with the simple calligraphic types and those that re-
dered in blue whereas the text was written in black and gold; stricted the illumination to the parts of the tugra itself.
the letters were sprinkled with gold. The practice of sprin- The illuminated tugra that characterizes the age of Siiley-
kling gold dust on texts while the ink was still wet was par- man was firmly established in the 1550s. There are numerous

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