Page 117 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

ing bayram celebrations) because it was traditionally placed
in front of the gate leading into the third courtyard of the
palace during religious holidays. Made of ten interlocking
pieces, it has a wood core faced with gold plaques, which are
encrusted with 954 large pieces of peridot set into gold petal
mounts with high collars affixed to the core by a series of
gold nails. 9 The throne is traditionally said to be the one de-
scribed in an inventory dated 1585, and made for Murad III
by two artists named Ibrahim and Dervi§.
The sultans traveled with their portable thrones, and sev-
eral manuscript illustrations represent the rulers seated in
gem-encrusted gold examples during campaigns and activities
taking place outside the palace. Süleyman himself is en-
throned on a similar piece in the paintings of the 1558 Süley-
manname. There must have been a number of such thrones,
which were destroyed and/or reworked through the years. It
is, therefore, not possible to positively identify the gold
throne in the palace as the one listed in the 1585 inventory.
The piece could very well date from Suleyman's reign, since
it shows the understated grandeur found on other objects
made for him, such as a silver plate and an ivory mirror (see
50 and 73). The use of peridot, a relatively inexpensive gem
today, suggests that it was considered an unusual stone at the
time. Peridot (called zeberced in Turkish) comes from the is-
land of Zebirged in the Red Sea and must have been brought
from Egypt shortly after its conquest by Selim I. Its first ap-
pearance in the court must have been unusual enough to
warrant its use on the gold throne.
Extremely few Ottoman thrones are in existence. In addi-
tion to the gold example, there are two other portable ones,
both made of inlaid wood. One of them has the same shape
as the Bayram Tahti, but is considerably smaller (see 107).
Datable to the mid-sixteenth century, it is inlaid with ebony,
ivory, and mother-of-pearl. The other has a domical canopy
surmounted by a gold clock and is inlaid with mother-of-
pearl and tortoiseshell and encrusted with gems (fig. 17). It
was made for Ahmed I in the 1610s by Sedefkar (inlayer of
mother-of-pearl) Mehmed Aga, a remarkable man who not
only also produced the inlaid wood kursi (lectern) and doors
of the Mosque of Sultan Ahmed, but was also the building's
chief architect. 10
Official Ottoman thrones appear to have been the large
platform types with canopies, built into the chambers. There
are two of these structures in the Topkapi Palace, one of
which is in the Arz Odasi, where foreign dignitaries, heads of
state, and high officials were received. It was refurbished
later, but the lacquered dome of the canopy, representing a
combat between a dragon and a senmurv, dates from the end
of the sixteenth century. 11 The other built-in throne is in the
Has Oda; it too was refurbished in later years and the present
Fig. 17. Inlaid wood throne made for Ahmed I by Sedcfkar
Mehmed Aga, c. 1610 (Istanbul, Topkapi Sarayí Müzesi, 2/1652) one, covered with gilded silver, was made in the second
quarter of the seventeenth century by Evliya Çelebi's father,
Dervi§ Mehmed, who was the chief goldsmith at the time.

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