Architecture and Material Politics in the Fifteenth-century Ottoman Empire

297 Pages·2022·22.779 MB·English

by  Patricia Blessing

ARCHITECTURE AND MATERIAL POLITICS IN THE FIFTEENTH-CENTURY
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
Inthisbook,PatriciaBlessingexplorestheemergenceofOttomanarchitectureinthefifteenthcentury
anditsconnectionwithbroadergeographicalcontexts.Analyzinghowtransregionalexchangeshaped
buildingpractices,sheexamineshowworkersfromAnatolia,theMediterranean,theBalkans,andIran
andCentralAsiaparticipatedinkeyconstructionprojects.Shealsodemonstrateshowdrawn,scalable
modelsonpaperservedastemplatesforarchitecturaldecorationsandsupplementedcollaborationsthat
involvedthemobilityofworkers. Blessingrevealshowthecreationofcentralizedworkshopsledtothe
emergenceofaclearlydefinedimperialOttomanstyleby1500,whentheflexibilityandexperimenta-
tionoftheprecedingcenturywasleveled.HerbookradicallytransformsourunderstandingofOttoman
architecturebyexposingthediverseandfluidnatureofitsformativeperiod.Italsoprovidesthereader
with an understanding of the design, planning, and construction processes of a major empire of the
Islamicworld.
Patricia Blessing is an assistant professor of art history at Princeton University. A scholar of Islamic
architecture in the eastern Mediterranean, Iberian Peninsula, and Iran, she is the author of Rebuilding
AnatoliaaftertheMongolConquest.
Published online by Cambridge University Press
Published online by Cambridge University Press
ARCHITECTURE AND MATERIAL
POLITICS IN THE FIFTEENTH-
CENTURY OTTOMAN EMPIRE
PATRICIA BLESSING
PrincetonUniversity
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CONTENTS
NoteonTransliteration,Spelling,andDates pagevii
Acknowledgments viii
Maps x
INTRODUCTION: MATERIALPOLITICSOFARCHITECTUREINAFLUIDEMPIRE 1
3
Pasts,Presents,Futures:ArchitectureandSources
6
ShiftingArchitectures,ChangingActors
9
TheOttomanEmpireandtheRenaissance
10
Styles,InternationalandOtherwise
12
ChapterSummaries
1 IMPERIAL AND LOCAL HORIZONS: LOOKING EAST AND WEST 15
16
TimuridStyleinOttomanLands?
19
MovingtowardConstantinople
TheÇiniliKöşk:BetweenConstantinopleandKhurasan 21
23
BetweenPersianateandByzantineArchitecture
EpigraphicArtificeandPoeticCosmology 26
TheTileDecorationoftheÇiniliKöşk 30
IstanbulbeyondtheÇiniliKöşk 35
MahmudPasha’sPatronage 39
48
TransfertoSkopje:TileWorkontheMove
51
Mid-Fifteenth-CenturyAesthetics:IstanbulandBeyond
2 IMMERSIVE SPACE: EMPIRE BUILDING AND THE OTTOMAN FRONTIER 53
55
ShiftingStyles:ConstructingPast,Present,andFuture
MehmedI’sMosque-Za¯viyeComplexinBursa 57
65
DynasticMemoryinBursa
68
Tiles:Timurid,Saljuq,Aqqoyunlu?
68
BuildingInnovations:CreatingImmersiveSpace
76
TheMastersofTabriz:TilesandOrigin
79
TheSaljuqPast:StoneandPre-OttomanAnatolia
90
TheTimuridPresent:Bursa,Tabriz,andInternationalTimuridStyle
93
EntangledReferences
3 UNDER THE INFLUENCE: CREATING COSMOPOLITAN ARCHITECTURES 95
99
MamlukStyleinOttomanAmasya:TheBayezidPashaMosque-Za¯viye
104
ConstructionSites:WorkersandDesigners
107
PaperandArchitecturalDesign
v
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vi CONTENTS
ConsolidatingaStyle:TheYörgüçPashaMosque-Za¯viye 109
116
NewDirectionsinStoneCarving:FromPlasticitytoSurface
119
ConnectingtheMamlukandOttomanRealms:ScholarshipandLanguage
121
MamlukAestheticsontheMoveinWesternAnatoliaandThrace
134
TransmissionandDesign
135
Blue-and-WhiteTiles:ASharedAesthetic?
140
TheMastersofTabrizbeyondBursa
142
TheVirtualKitabkha¯na
144
MobileArtistsandImperialAspirations
4 BUILDING PARADISE: AFTERLIFE AND DYNASTIC POLITICS 145
145
FunerarySpaceandDynasticMemory
TheSultan’sMausoleum 150
FromtheWrittentotheBuiltSpaceofMuradII’sDeathandAfterlife 157
159
ParadiseintheFunerarySpace
166
OttomanFuneraryLandscapes
PrincelyBurialsinBursa’sMuradiye 168
173
IntertwinedSpaces
5 AN OTTOMAN AESTHETIC: CONSOLIDATION CIRCA 1500 175
179
CentralizingDesignonPaper
188
DesignintheAgeofBayezidII:Amasya
ExtendingintotheBalkans:SerresandSkopjecirca1490 194
199
EmergingArchitects
PatronageforSufiCommunitiesinContestedAnatolia 205
207
AnatoliaandCiliciabeyondtheOttomanRealm
214
AnOttomanAesthetic
CONCLUSION 216
Notes 220
Bibliography 245
Index 270
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NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION, SPELLING, AND DATES
SourcesinArabicandPersianappearintheoriginalscriptwhencitedinfootnotes.Fortermsandshort
quotationsinthemaintext,IfollowedthetransliterationsystemoftheInternationalJournalofMiddleEast
Studies (IJMES). For Ottoman Turkish, the IJMES system is used throughout, except when directly
quoting from a source that has been published in Latin script in a different transliteration. In personal
names,specialcharactersareomittedexceptforʿayn,hamza,andthelonga¯ inOttomanTurkishnames
endingin-za¯de–forexample,ʿAşıkpaşaza¯de.TermsthathaveenteredstandardEnglish usage,suchas
mihrab, muqarnas, and kadi, are not transliterated. Present-day place names (as of 2021) are used
throughout, although some historical names are indicated on maps for reference. Dates are given
according to the lunar hijri calendar as well as the Common Era when referring to specific, dated
inscriptionsorobjects.Otherwise,CommonEradatesareused.Unlessotherwisenoted,alltranslations
intoEnglisharemyown.
vii
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thisbookgrewoutoftheepilogueofmyfirstmonograph,RebuildingAnatoliaaftertheMongolConquest
(Ashgate, 2014), whereIreflected onthe ways inwhich earlyOttoman architecturewas connected to
the post-Mongol world. I conducted research for the new project as an H. Allen Brooks Travelling
FellowsupportedbytheSocietyofArchitecturalHistorians,asaGerdaHenkelFoundationpostdoctoral
fellow,andasanassistantprofessorfirstatPomonaCollegeandnowatPrincetonUniversity.Allofthese
institutions provided indispensable research support, for which I am deeply grateful, as I am to the
Barakat Trust for additional funding. A generous book subvention from the Barr Ferree Foundation
Publication Fund, Department of Art & Archaeology, Princeton University enhanced the book’s
production.
Forexceptionallibraryaccessat StanfordUniversityduringtheCOVID-19pandemicin2020–21,I
am deeply grateful to Debra Satz and R. Lanier Anderson in the Dean’s Office of the School of
Humanities and Sciences, Michael A. Keller at Stanford University Libraries, and Lisa Blaydes and
Zackal-WitriattheAbbasiPrograminIslamicStudies.ScanningservicesfromthePrincetonUniversity
LibrariesandaccesstoHathiTrustwerealsoinstrumentalincompletingthemanuscript.Forcontinued
support, I thank Gülru Necipoğ lu, who has been a role model in scholarly rigor, consistency, and
mentorship; and Scott Redford, whose work has been an inspiration ever since I began studying
medievalAnatolia.AvinoamShalemhasofferedcrucialsupportincross-culturalstudiesofthemedieval
Islamicworldanditsneighbors,andinspirationtotacklequestionsofornamentandmoveableobjects.
IamdeeplygratefultoAlexanderKey,whoreadtheentiremanuscriptduringthepandemicsummer
of2020andofferedincisive,transformativesuggestions.Fortimelycommentsandinspiringquestionson
elements of this project, I thank Sheila Canby, Moya Carey, John Curry, Walter B. Denny, Thomas
Dittelbach, Antony Eastmond, Judson Emerick, Özer Ergenç, Fiona Griffiths, Lara Harb, Robert
Hillenbrand, Jeremy Johns, Cemal Kafadar, Ahmed T. Karamustafa, Selim S. Kuru, Oya Pancaroğ lu,
KathrynStarkey,JoelWalker,andZeynepYürekli.
Research would have been impossible without the help of curators, librarians, and archivists at the
Bibliothèque d’études arabes, turques et islamiques at the Collège de France in Paris; the Museum für
islamischeKunstinBerlin;theMetropolitanMuseumofArtinNewYork;theCourtauldInstitute,the
SchoolofOrientalandAfricanStudies,andtheVictoria&AlbertMuseuminLondon;theAshmolean
̇
MuseuminOxford;ANAMED,IstanbulArchaeologicalMuseum,IstanbulÜniversitesiNadirEserler
Kütüphanesi,İstanbulBüyükşehirBelediyesiAtatürkKitaplığ ı,KoçUniversityLibrary,Türkveİslam
Eserleri Müzesi, and Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Cumhurbaşkanlığ ı Devlet Arşivleri Başkanlığ ı Osmanlı
Arşivi Külliyesi (formerly Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi) in Istanbul; Marquand and Firestone Libraries
at Princeton University; Stanford University Libraries; and Honnold-Mudd Library at the Claremont
Colleges.AtPomonaCollege,AlexandraDean,CynthiaMadrigal,andSusanK.Thalmannscannedmy
slides from Egypt, Turkey, and Syria so that I could include some of these images in this book. Jacob
Wheeler in the Visual Resources Collection at Princeton greatly helped with securing image permis-
sions.ThestaffoftheDepartmentofArt&ArchaeologyatPrinceton,especiallyMaureenKilleen,have
viii
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
beenacentralsourceofsupport.RachaelZ.DeLueasdepartmentchairhasofferedcrucialsupportinmy
earlyyearsatPrinceton,forwhichIamdeeplygrateful.IalsothankMichaelKoortbojianwhoservedthe
sameroleasIwasabouttostartmypositioninsummer2020.
Participantsatnumerousconferenceschallengedmetorefineaspectsofthisproject.Iespeciallythank
BrittaDümpelmannandmembersofherDeutscheForschungsgemeinschaft(DFG)researchprojectfora
series of fruitful meetings. I also thank Judith Pfeiffer and the 2017–18 members of the Alexander von
HumboldtKolleg“IslamicateIntellectualHistory”attheRheinischeFriedrich-Wilhelms-Universitätin
Bonn for their feedback. I presented aspects of this book at the “Ottoman Topologies” conference at
Stanford University in 2014; at the Western Ottomanists’ Workshop at the University of California,
Davis in 2015; in the Eurasian Empires workshop at the Stanford Humanities Center, organized by
NancyKollmannandAliYaycıoğ lu,in2017;attheWesternOttomanists’WorkshopattheClaremont
Colleges, and in the Near Eastern Languages and Civilization Department at the University of
Washington,Seattle,bothin2019.PartsofChapter2werepublishedinGesta,undertheexpertguidance
of Linda Safran and Adam S. Cohen. An article published in Muqarnas, with detailed comments from
Gülru Necipoğ lu and Walter B. Denny and the editorial support of Maria Meister and Peri Bearman,
laidthefoundationsofmyengagementwithOttoman–Mamlukintersections.
MattGleeson’sdetailedworkonthetextpushedmetotransformmanyaspectsofthemanuscriptfor
the reader’s benefit. Matilde Grimaldi produced architectural drawings and maps that transformed the
finalmanuscriptintoaproductivecollaboration.AtCambridgeUniversityPress,IthankeditorBeatrice
Rehl,editorialassistantEdgarMendez,theproductionteam,NigelGraves,andMathiMareesan.Ithank
Meridith Murray, who created a detailed index. I am also deeply grateful to the two anonymous
reviewerswhosecommentstransformedthefirstdraftintothebookthatreaderswillencounternow.
For taking on the various roles of colleagues, mentors, neighbors, traveling companions, and fellow
foodenthusiasts,IofferheartfeltthankstoLadanAkbarnia,NilüferAkpınar-Ş ahin,TunaArtun,NoraE.
Barakat, Charles E. Barber, the Başaran family, Deniz Beyazit, İ. Evrim Binbaş, Walter Borghini and
MariaCristinaCarile,EbruÇetin-Milci,MaryL.Coffey,EmreCanDağ lıoğ luandTamarNalcı,Lara
Deeb,RowanDorin,HeatherL.Ferguson,MohammadGharipour,DeniseE.Gill,DimitriGondicas,
George L. Gorse, Rachel Goshgarian, Christiane J. Gruber, Antonis Hadjikyriacou, Burcu Karahan,
Burçak Keskin-Kozat, Arash Khazeni, Kıvanç Kılınç, Beatrice E. Kitzinger, Lorenz Korn, Juliet Koss,
FrancescaLeoni,DunjaLöbe,AnneMarieLuijendijk,NinaMacaraig,KatherineL.Marsengill,Yumna
Masarwa,RichardP.McClary,MatthewMelvin-Koushki,MichelleMillard,JoanneR.Nucho,Tessa
Paneth-Pollack, Pamela A. Patton, Bissera V. Pentcheva, Jennifer A. Pruitt, Aron Rodrigue, Eiren L.
Shea, Amy Singer, Irene V. Small, Murat Somer, Laura P. Stokes, Hana Taragan, Fatih Tarhan, Baki
Tezcan, Erik Thunø, Yektan Türkyılmaz, Nükhet Varlık, Kären Wigen, Elizabeth Dospěl Williams,
KennethB.Wolf,SuzanYalman,AnnaZadrożna,AdrienZakar,andNinoZchomelidse.Veryspecial
thankstomycommunityofacademicmothers–youknowwhoyouare.Forchildcareinthemiddleofa
pandemic,IthankAyşenurArıca,andYinaMorrisandherteamattheYWCAinPrinceton.
Asalways,myfamilyinSwitzerlandandTurkeyborethebruntofthisproject,toleratingstrangetravel
schedules,jointtrekstomuseumsandsites,andsuitcasesandbookspiledonthefloor.Ithankeveryone
fortheirgoodspiritsandsupportovermanyyearsofresearch.Myhusband,AliYaycıoğ lu,hasheardand
read many iterations of this book, the failed ones and those realized. Our daughter, Aline Marianne
Reyhan, was born as I was completing this book, and I dedicate it to her, her grandmother, and her
great-grandmother,withwhomshesharesamiddlename.
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