Art, architecture, and design are very important clues for historians to figure out what exactly a civilization, culture and society valued. Architecture, in particular, is a very important part of a larger material culture which may be used by historians as clues to figure out what impact these decisions had on the larger culture and the way each society organizes itself. In this sense, it is almost nearly inescapable that each piece of art or building will not in some way or another influence our thinking regarding how each of these societies is organized. This is true everywhere around the world and in every time period but there is a strong connection that the built environment and cultural production has in the Middle East and in particular the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman art and architecture are quite interesting and they serve as a way of connecting life in the empire to its cultural products. This is particularly the case with mosques, calligraphic art and the development of other art forms. All of these factors together heavily influence how art and architecture are thought of, and they help create the environment in which they exist while the social and economic conditions do the same.
Jami' Muhammad Bey Abu al-Dhahab – Muhammad Bey Abu Dhahab’s Mosque
The Abu Dhahab’s Mosque was built in Cairo, Egypt in 1774 by its namesake a powerful local ruler that attempted to restore the Mamluk Dynasty to power in Egypt. This Mosque was actually part of a much larger religious complex which featured a takiyya, and “a library, latrines, and fountains.” (Archnet) The reason such an impressive mosque and surrounding complex could be built was in large part because of Egypt’s importance as one of the Ottoman empire’s most important provinces. Egypt was a very important place within the Empire because it “was the biggest province of the Empire with regard to revenue potential, due to its productivity and its unique position between East and West.” (Gunes 86) This meant that Egypt was one of the central Ottoman provinces and it was placed where much revenue was created and that meant that whoever wanted to have quite a lot of money at their disposal to build whatever they wanted. This was exactly the case with Abu Dhahab and why he spent so much time and money trying to build such an impressive mosque complex in Cairo. Public building projects are a very good way to project power and this is exactly the case with this mosque and the surrounding complex. Mosques in particular also show the importance of religion and Islam in people’s everyday lives. These facts all easily show the cultural, social and political environment in which this mosque was built and its connections for its importance.
Calligraphic Galleon
Calligraphy was one the most important art forms in Islamic cultures because as Suraiya Faroqhi explains they were forms of “representation which did not contravene the religious prohibition against depicting people and animals” (Faroqhi 2) This highly ornamented galleon which is made entirely from calligraphy does highlight some very important things about the Ottoman Empire and its culture. Mainly, that Islam was the most important thing in society and that artists were still very much concerned with the issue associated with the depiction of icons and iconography. In short, the art and craft and calligraphy are very much associated with Islam and its importance to the Ottomans. The level of ornamentation, furthermore, displays that the consumers of works of art like this were extremely discerning and wealthy. The calligraphy was laid with some sort of gold foil which made it something unique. Works of art like this are typical of the Ottomans for their use of ornamentation and calligraphy. These are always in which the social life of the Ottoman elite shaped its art.
Polonaise Carpet
One of the most important forms of art which were popular throughout the Middle East after the fifteenth century and to this day was a tapestry. The making of carpets is something which was very much associated with Persia and that region. These carpets like this are all very complex and they are known for their use of “silk pile, pastel color palette, and extensive use of gold- and silver-metal-wrapped thread” (Heilbrunn). This meant that they were examples of something which not many people could afford and that they were luxury goods which were prized by members of the Ottoman court. This made it very much similar to calligraphic art which was highly ornamental and also something which only the most well-off members of the Ottoman elite had access to. Expensive pieces of tapestry like this one was also something which had connections into the larger Islamic culture that spread east into Persia and far into India. These works are all valuable in their own way because they inform us about the nature of courtly consumption and its taste for fineries such as expensive Persian rugs.
The Merchant of Arms
As we saw above there is somewhat of a stereotype which we associate with “Islamic art,” which is to say that much of it isn’t representational and instead is highly ornamental and lays on the use of architecture, the use of vegetation and most importantly calligraphy as a way of making art. This argument about the nature of Islamic art is facile and it is highly tinged by a heavy Orientalist bent. This definitely was not the case into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as the Ottoman empire became more and more integrated into the European artistic world and its forms and practices. A painting like “The Merchant of Arms” is a great example of how it is not fair to pigeonhole art into a category and instead it shows how Ottoman painters instead of “radically disengaging from local precedents and completely adopting foreign artistic practice, artistic proactive incorporated Ottoman cultural sensibilities with Western forms” (Shaw 3) The modernization of the Ottoman empire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was a process which was very much impacted by Western contact and it meant that many things changed including the art. There is something to be said for the role of art as a way of depicting changing societies and especially how contact with one can change another.
Conclusion
There is something very interesting about art and architecture and its role in telling us about social and cultural norms. Art, high art, in particular, is a very good vehicle for explaining this. The changes in Ottoman life through the course of the modern period has undeniably changed its art but the basic values of Islam are integral to Ottoman art and architecture. This is especially important as it regards mosque construction and although there is some controversy surrounding the matter the use of vegetation and calligraphy as a form of ornamentation which keeps it in line with Islam’s anxiety with the depiction of humans. There are many other implications to art but these are the most important ones especially as it relates to the Ottoman Empire from the eighteenth century on.
Works Cited
Paintings.
"Calligraphic Galleon | 2003.241 | Work of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Aug. 2016.
"Jami' Muhammad Bey Abu Al-Dhahab | View of Central Dome | Archnet." Jami' Muhammad Bey Abu Al-Dhahab | View of Central Dome | Archnet. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Aug. 2016.
Met. "The Later Ottomans and the Impact of Europe « Islamic Arts and Architecture." Islamic Arts and Architecture. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Aug. 2016.
"Polonaise Carpet | 50.190.1 | Work of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Aug. 2016.
Secondary Sources.
Faroqhi, Suraiya. Subjects of the Sultan: Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire. London: I.B. Tauris, 2005. Print.
Gunes, M. Nihal. "The Economic Condition of Egypt in the 18th Century AD."Rosetta 15.5 (n.d.): 86-92. Web.
Shaw, Wendy M. K. Ottoman Painting: Reflections of Western Art from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic. London: I.B. Tauris, 2010. Print.
