Ottoman Art and Music

The Ottoman artistic tradition was one of the most distinctive in the early modern world. It produced a body of miniature painting, calligraphy, ceramics, textiles, and metalwork that combined the heritage of Persian, Arab, and Byzantine art with the tastes of a multi-confessional imperial court. In music, the Ottomans developed a sophisticated classical tradition, a vigorous folk tradition, a rich Sufi repertoire, and the famous Mehter military band, the music of the Janissary corps. This article surveys the main forms, periods, and works of Ottoman art and music, and it complements the broader overview of Ottoman society and culture and the architectural context in Ottoman architecture.

Miniature painting

The Ottoman miniature — a small, detailed, brightly colored painting on paper — was the principal form of figural art at the Ottoman court. It grew out of a long Persian and Arab tradition, but it developed its own characteristic features: a high horizon, a vivid palette, a taste for large crowd scenes, and a careful attention to costume, architecture, and topography.

The earliest Ottoman miniatures were illustrations in the manuscripts of the imperial library. The Hünername of the late sixteenth century, the Surname-i Vehbi of the early eighteenth, and the great historical chronicles of the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent are the most important collections. The Nakkaşhane, the imperial studio of painters, was established in the late fifteenth century and was active until the seventeenth, and it produced the bulk of the surviving miniatures of the classical period. Many of the manuscripts it illustrated were commissioned by the sultans whose lives and family are described in the dedicated article.

The great Ottoman miniature painters — Nakkaş Sinanbey and his students in the sixteenth century, Levni (Abdülcelil Çelebi) in the early eighteenth — are known by their pen names, and their works are preserved in the libraries of Istanbul, Vienna, London, and Berlin. The miniatures of Levni in particular are remarkable for their portraits of the figures of the Tulip Period, their sense of color, and their accurate rendering of fabric and light.

The miniature tradition declined in the nineteenth century, when European pictorial conventions began to dominate the imperial school. The final flowering of the Ottoman miniature is the great Levni album of 1720, painted for the circumcision festival of Ahmed III’s sons.

Calligraphy

Calligraphy was the most prestigious of the Ottoman arts. The Qur’an, the hadith, the imperial edicts, the architectural inscriptions, the imperial seals, the coins, the documents of the bureaucracy, and the dedications of the great libraries were all in the hand of a calligrapher, and the most important calligraphers were celebrated as the leading artists of the empire.

Ottoman calligraphy was written in the six principal scripts of the Islamic tradition: kufic (used principally for architectural inscriptions in the early period), nesih (the principal hand for copying the Qur’an), sülüs (used for monumental inscriptions), divani (a stylized hand of the chancellery), rik’a (a hand of the bureaucracy), and ta’lik (a Persian hand used in the eastern provinces).

The earliest Ottoman calligrapher was Şeyh Hamdullah (1436–1520), the founder of the Ottoman calligraphic tradition. He reformed the nesih and sülüs hands in a distinctively Ottoman direction, and he trained a generation of students who became the calligraphers of the Süleymaniye and the Selimiye — the great imperial mosques designed by Mimar Sinan. Hafiz Osman (1642–1698) refined the nesih hand further, and Mustafa Râkım (1757–1826) developed the monumental sülüs that was used for the imperial inscriptions of the nineteenth century. The tradition continued into the twentieth century in the work of the calligrapher Sâmi Efendi and his students, and Ottoman calligraphy is still actively practiced in Turkey and in the Islamic world today.

The tools of the calligrapher were the kalem (pen), generally made of dried reed; the mürekkep (ink), made of soot, gum arabic, and water; the kâğıt (paper), generally imported from the East; the makta (desk), set at a slant to hold the paper; and the tezhip (illumination) and ezhar (floral ornament) that often accompanied the writing in a great Qur’an or an imperial document.

Ceramics, tiles, and the Iznik tradition

The Ottomans produced a rich tradition of pottery, of which the most celebrated is Iznik ware, the brilliantly white, polychromatically painted ceramic produced in the town of Iznik (Nicaea) from the late fifteenth to the seventeenth century. Iznik ware is recognizable by its white slip ground, its clear colors — the famous “Armenian bole” red, the emerald green, the cobalt blue, and the yellow — and its motifs: tulips, carnations, hyacinths, roses, cloud bands, and arabesque scrolls.

The earliest Iznik ware, from the late fifteenth century, was a kind of Miletus ware, with dark blue motifs on a white ground. By the sixteenth century, the Iznik potters had developed the polychrome palette of the classic period, and the tiles produced for the Süleymaniye, the Rüstem Pasha Mosque, and the Sokollu Mehmed Pasha Mosque are among the greatest decorative achievements of the empire. The classical Iznik tradition declined in the seventeenth century, and by the eighteenth century the Iznik kilns had been largely replaced by the Kütahya tradition of more mildly decorated, white-ground ware.

Other ceramic traditions of the empire include the Kütahya ware, the Çanakkale ware, and the simpler red-clay pottery of the village. The Ottoman potters produced both tiles — used as wall decoration in mosques, palaces, and houses — and vessels, of which the most famous are the dishes, plates, bowls, and jugs in the classic Iznik style.

Carpets, textiles, and the applied arts

The Ottoman carpet tradition is among the most famous in the world. The Ushak (Uşak) carpets of western Anatolia, the Hereke carpets of the imperial workshops near Istanbul, the Bergama carpets of the Aegean, the Kula carpets of the interior, the Ghiordes (Gördes) carpets of the Marmara region, and the prayer rugs of the Mudjur and Ladik regions are the principal varieties. The earliest surviving Ottoman carpets are from the fifteenth century, and the great carpets of the imperial mosques — particularly the huge Ushak carpets of the Süleymaniye and the Selimiye — are among the largest and most ambitious carpets ever woven.

The silk and velvet textiles of Istanbul, Bursa, and Edirne were equally celebrated. The kumaş — the brocaded silk — was used for the caftans of the sultan, the robes of the officials, the curtains of the palace, and the coverings of the tombs. The most important weaving centers were Istanbul, Bursa, and Edirne, and the velvet of Bursa, the silk of Edirne, and the brocade of Istanbul were exported across the empire and beyond.

The metalwork tradition was also rich. The tomruk, the great bronze mortar of the palace, the sini, the large metal tray, the güğüm, the ewer, the ibrik, the water jug, the kandil, the lamp, and the çeşme, the fountain spout, were all made of bronze, brass, copper, or silver, and they were often inlaid with silver, gold, or arabesques. The Ottoman clock and the watchmaking tradition of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries produced some of the most elaborate mechanical objects of the early modern world.

Classical Turkish music

Ottoman classical music — called Türk sanat müziği — was a sophisticated modal tradition based on the makam scales, the usul rhythmic cycles, and a repertoire of instrumental and vocal forms developed over several centuries. The principal instruments were the ney (reed flute), the tanbur (long-necked lute), the kanun (zither), the kemençe (three-stringed fiddle), the ud (short-necked lute), the def (frame drum), and the human voice.

The earliest Ottoman composers were influenced by the Persian and Arab traditions of the eastern Islamic world, but by the seventeenth century a distinctly Ottoman classical style had emerged. The great composers of the Ottoman classical tradition include Buhurizade Mustafa Itri (1640–1712), the most celebrated of all Ottoman composers, whose Neva Kâr is the unofficial anthem of Ottoman music; Dede Efendi (1778–1846), the master of the classical Ottoman form; and Tanburi Cemil Bey (1871–1916), the last great Ottoman classical composer and the first to record the tradition on disc.

The classical tradition was performed in the palace, in the homes of the wealthy, in the Mevlevi lodges, and in the great private music rooms of the elite. The fasıl — the long suite of instrumental and vocal pieces that constituted the principal performance form — lasted for hours, and the major concerts of the elite Ottoman households were major social events that included food, drink, and the company of poets, scholars, and divines.

Folk and Sufi music

The folk music of the Ottoman countryside was a different kind of tradition, in which the long-necked saz (baglama), the davul (bass drum), the zurna (shawm), and the human voice were the principal instruments. The folk songs of the empire — the songs of the terekeme of the east, the songs of the Yörük of Anatolia, the songs of the peasantry of the Balkans, the songs of the Arab, Kurdish, and Turkish nomads — formed a vast repertoire that was recorded in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by folk-song collectors and that has remained an important part of the popular musical heritage of the modern successor states of the empire.

The Sufi musical tradition was closely related to both the classical and the folk traditions. The Mevlevi order of the followers of the poet Rumi developed a sophisticated musical repertoire of its own, performed in the semahane of the Mevlevi lodge to the accompaniment of the ney, the kudüm (small kettle drum), and the human voice, and it was the Mevlevi tradition that gave the Ottoman classical music its most famous philosophical texts, including the opening lines of Rumi’s Masnavi: “Listen to this reed, how it complains, telling a tale of separations…” The same musical and literary culture sustained the poetry recited in the imperial harem, described in the article on life in the imperial harem.

The Mehter band

The Mehter band was the official military band of the Ottoman army. It performed at the head of the army on the march, at the gates of conquered cities, at the accession of a new sultan, at the religious festivals, and at the major state ceremonies, and its music was the public music of the empire.

The instruments of the Mehter band were the davul (bass drum), the nakkare (small kettledrum), the zurna (shawm), the boru (long trumpet), the kös (very large kettledrum), the çevgan (policeman’s staff with jingles), the zil (cymbal), and the çıngırak (bell). The music was loud, march-like, and rhythmically driving, and it was intended to inspire the troops, to impress the enemy, and to mark the presence of the sultan.

The Mehter band was abolished in 1826, when the Janissary corps itself was abolished in the Auspicious Incident, but it was revived in the twentieth century as a state ceremonial band, and it still performs at official occasions in Turkey today. Its music had a profound influence on European military music, and a number of Ottoman march tunes were adopted by the European armies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries — most famously in the works of Mozart, Beethoven, and Joseph Haydn, all of whom wrote in the “Turkish” style.

Architecture as art

Architecture was the largest of the Ottoman arts, and the decoration of the buildings themselves was an integral part of the architectural tradition. The ornament of the classical mosque was entirely non-figurative: calligraphy, geometric ornament, stylized floral and cloud-band designs, and the brilliant tile-work of the interior. The absence of the human figure in religious ornament was not a sign of a lack of artistic skill, but a deliberate application of Islamic prohibition.

Outside the religious sphere, however, the Ottoman decorative tradition was rich in figural representation. The painted ceilings of the imperial pavilions, the carved and gilded wooden ceilings of the harem apartments, the silk embroideries of the imperial wardrobe, and the painted manuscripts of the imperial library all show human figures — courtiers, musicians, hunters, animals, and flowers — in great variety. The art of Ottoman architecture is treated in a separate article, and the principal architect of the classical style is described in the article on Mimar Sinan. The miniature paintings of these scenes often depict the Ottoman coffee culture of the period — the coffeehouse, the coffee service, and the social life around the cup.

The legacy

The Ottoman artistic tradition, in its different forms, is the principal visible inheritance of the empire. The miniatures, the calligraphies, the Iznik tiles, the carpets, the textiles, the metalwork, the architectural monuments, and the musical repertoire of the Ottomans are still studied, displayed, and performed across the world. The classical music tradition continues in Turkey, in the Balkans, in the Arab world, and in the Greek and Armenian diaspora; the miniature and ceramic traditions are taught in the art schools; the carpets of Hereke, Ushak, and Bergama are still woven; and the Mehter band still performs in Istanbul. The article on Ottoman architecture treats the building arts in more detail, and the broader survey of Ottoman society and culture places these traditions in the context of Ottoman daily life.

Ottoman society and culture — A broader overview of daily life, family, religion, architecture, cuisine, and entertainment in the Ottoman world.
Ottoman architecture — Mosques, palaces, külliye complexes, the classical Sinan tradition, and the Ottoman Baroque.
Ottoman cuisine — The palace kitchen, food classes, feasting, sweets, and beverages of the Ottoman Empire.
Ottoman family and the imperial harem — The domestic arts, the harem, and the place of the applied arts in the imperial household.
Mimar Sinan — The architect of the Süleymaniye, Şehzade, and Selimiye mosques.
Ottoman coffee culture — The cultural life of the coffeehouse, the principal venue for Ottoman poetry, music, and conversation.
Life in the imperial harem — The decorative arts of the imperial harem at Topkapı.