Riches Fit for a Sultan

Talk about lifestyles of the rich and famous: In the 15th century, the Medicis had to keep up with the Mehmeds. In fact, the Renaissance princes learned a trick or two from the Ottoman sultans whose tastes leaned toward gold-threaded robes, bejeweled turbans and ornate weapons. The worshipers of Allah felt in competition with the Roman Catholics across the sea, and their lavish acquisitions advertised their power as well as their devotion to Islam.

These sumptuous trappings and their role in Ottoman life are the subject of a tantalizing exhibition, “Palace of Gold & Light: Treasures From the Topkapi, Istanbul” at the San Diego Museum of Art from Friday to Sept. 24. The show will then travel to the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., from Oct. 15 to Feb. 28, 2001.

The assembled riches are drawn from the collections of the Topkapi Palace Museum, part of the walled city in Istanbul built by Mehmed II, the Conqueror, which remained home to Ottoman sultans until the middle of the 19th century. The exhibition was organized for the nonprofit Palace Arts Foundation by professor Tulay Artan, a social historian at Sabanci University, Istanbul, and senior advisor and Islamic art authority Walter Denny, a professor of art history and Middle East studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. It includes about 200 works of art and artifacts, some of which have never before left the palace.

In the history of art, the accumulation of riches accompanies the consolidation of power. This show differs from earlier exhibitions of Ottoman art by examining its origins. “This show,” Artan says, “focuses on the role of Mehmed the Conqueror and the founding of the Ottoman Empire.”

In 1453, the youthful Mehmed II, an admirer of Alexander the Great, had his ships dragged over land under cover of night to the body of water known as the Golden Horn, where he launched a surprise rear attack to conquer the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. The name of the Christian city was changed to Istanbul, which became the new capital of Mehmed’s Ottoman empire. He built Topkapi on the lofty site of the ancient Byzantine acropolis. The enormous seaside complex faced Europe to the West and Asia to the East, symbolizing the empire’s position.

Mehmed II was not only a warrior, but also an aesthete and scholar who spoke Greek, Latin, Persian, and Arabic, and maintained an extensive library. Mehmed II had his portrait painted by the Italian Gentile Bellini. Subsequent sultans pursued his twin interests, especially Suleyman I, the Magnificent, considered one of the empire’s great arts patrons.

By the 16th century, Ottoman rule extended to the Balkans from Greece to the border of Austria, the Arab East, North Africa, Crimea, Hungary, and, at times, parts of Italy, Sicily, Poland and Ukraine.

A benefit of this far-flung empire was access to the finest craftsmen, many of whom came to work for the sultans at Topkapi. From painting to embroidery, jewelry to book-binding, the art and artifacts created under Ottoman patronage reflect the diverse taste and styles of Eastern and Western cultures.

“By the second half of the 16th century, the Ottomans had developed a distinctive style that the empire looked back to as their great classical period. The art of this period was reflective of the fact that their culture and their political power had reached their zenith at the same time,” Denny said. “The artistic style of the second half of the 16th century came to symbolize everything that was good, powerful, effective and just.”

*

While the Ottomans, situated in the center of the silk trade, borrowed designs from China, India and elsewhere, they tailored them to their own ends. The ornamental scrolls of leaves and vines, known as saz, epitomized the 16th century designs of Shah Kulu, while his student, Kara Memi, elevated the use of floral motifs. Aspects of these decorations can be found on textiles, pottery, household implements, weapons, jewelry and books. While the elaborate designs are refreshing and pretty, they also serve as metaphoric reminders of the gardens of paradise.

The Ottomans’ well-earned reputation as fearsome warriors of nomadic origins is symbolically addressed in the first section of the exhibition, “The Conqueror and His Court.” The bone-handled, 40-inch-long curved sword that Mehmed II carried into battle is included in the show, along with his talismanic shirt embroidered with Koranic script asking for divine protection. The aesthetics of military prowess appear in the heavily decorated quivers and arrows, elaborate suits of armor and a fur-lined caftan. Books and paintings detail Mehmed II’s exploits, and his spiritual raison d’e^tre is evident in the ornate calligraphy honoring Allah, along with pierced metal lamps representing the light of God, and the carpets woven with patterns of stars.

Enlarged color photographs of the Topkapi interiors allow us into the palace itself, where many of the exterior and interior walls are covered in teal and ivory tiles painted with flowers and calligraphy. The exhibition’s many carpets with medallions and stars woven on dark red backgrounds would have been unrolled across the stone floors during ceremonies.

In the section devoted to “The Mysteries of Kingship,” the exhibition emphasizes the theatrical presentations orchestrated to demonstrate Ottoman power. From the 15th to 18th centuries, when a sultan traveled outside Topkapi, he took with him trappings of his impressive lifestyle. The show features Suleyman I’s ebony campaign throne inlaid with ivory and mother of pearl and one of the nine horsetail standards that would have been posted at the entrance to his tent. The seated sultan would wear the embroidered silk caftans, quilted for warmth, and patterned with appliques of crescent moons and waves. The sultan’s ceremonial robes were damascened with gold calligraphy and the stylized representations of flowers, especially the tulip, which was cultivated in Turkey. The center of his turban was adorned with a trio of large emeralds and diamonds with egret plumes to ensure that he could be identified from a distance--a great distance. The sultanic strategy for maintaining power was to remain aloof and superior. He was only seen by his populace amid much pageantry and pomp on his way to worship at one of the mosques. He was never the “people’s prince.”

Most of the weapons included in the exhibition were ceremonial and much too beautiful for thrusting and slashing. The broad sword of Suleyman I is heavily worked in gold scrolls and flowers with a ruby-eyed dragon fighting a serpent. Helmets and maces carried by the sultan’s guards are similarly worked in gold and inlaid with turquoise and coral.

But the most famous and most heavily jeweled object in the show was not meant to belong to the sultan. The famous Topkapi dagger, the object of desire sought in Jules Dassin’s 1964 film “Topkapi,” featured a handle encased in quarter-sized emeralds as well as diamonds and cloisonne, with an eight-sided emerald concealing a watch on its top. It was commissioned as a gift for the Iranian Nadir Shah, who was killed in an uprising before the Ottoman emissary arrived, so the dagger was returned to the sultan.

*

The Ottoman sultans maintained centralized power by establishing an efficient bureaucracy instead of the complex system of feudalism still in place in Europe. Exceedingly rich, even by the standards of European royal families, they employed thousands of workers and documented every profit and loss. The section devoted to “Running a Bureaucratic State” includes examples of sweeping gold and blue calligraphy commissioned by the sultans in addition to rare paintings of the sultans and their attendants administering affairs at court.

The section of the exhibition called “Hidden From the World’s Eyes” is devoted to a topic that dominated the curiosity of Western writers and artists in the 18th and 19th centuries, the harem.

Inside the harem, which translates to “private quarters,” the sultan originally was the only man among hundreds of concubines, all of them regulated by his mother, the Valide Sultan. The harem was, however, devoted to aesthetic pleasure, too. The domed rooms with blue and white floral tile were designed by the great 16th century architect Sinon, who also built many of the great Istanbul mosques. On display are the harem’s giant pierced and gilded candlesticks inset with turquoise and rubies, the sofa and pillow coverings embroidered in gold thread or Italian velvet, Venetian glass lamps in the Turkish style and an extraordinary selection of red and blue ushak carpets.

Craftsmen throughout Europe came to live at the palace, some because they were subsumed into the Ottoman Empire, others by choice because they were well-rewarded. The section called “Production of Magnificence” documents the role of Ottoman patronage.

The centralized authority of the wealthy sultanate meant abundant funds for commissioned works of art. As illuminated prayer books and bibles were objects of prestige in Europe, so were the highly decorated Korans in the Ottoman Empire, with bindings of fine leather studded with rubies and emeralds. The boxes and stands used to hold the holy books are inlaid with tortoise-shell, mother of pearl and ivory. The Ottoman culture grew to be so refined that members of the court loved to use gorgeous objects in the rituals of daily life. The sultan usually was followed by a servant wearing a red hat and carrying the royal canteen made of rock crystal with gold appointments. Others carried his arms, such as a flintlock musket inlaid with mother of pearl and gold. Within the palace, water carafes and cups of jade and stone were chased in gold and jewels. Serving spoons were carved from agate, emerald, coconut shell and mother of pearl.

The rule of the Ottoman sultans was brought to an end by Ataturk in 1923 with the definitive separation of state and religion, but this year marks the 700th anniversary of the founding of the Ottoman Empire. The secular leaders of the Republic of Turkey, avidly seeking to join the European Union, clearly want this exhibition to draw attention to the abundant cultural richness of their country. Since nothing succeeds like success, they returned to the strategies of Mehmed II, recognizing that an exhibition of wealth and taste can still be considered good advertising.

*

“Palace of Gold & Light: Treasures From the Topkapi, Istanbul,” Friday-Sept. 24, San Diego Museum of Art, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park. Hours: Tuesdays-Sundays, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Thursdays, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Closed Mondays. Prices: Adults, $10; seniors, young adults, active-duty military and students with ID, $8; children 6-17, $4; children 5 and younger, free. (619) 232-7931.