DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29463#0196
example. One can assume that some sultans' tents and fragments are
preserved in the Topkapi Saray Museum, but information on them
remains unpublished. Some sources and iconographical clues indi-
cate that the main sultan's tent was round, domed, and made of red
fabric outside; clearly it was modeled on the yurt of the great khan.
The best image of this tent is a miniature painted by Lokman that
appears in the second volume of the TAmcrKamc (1587—1588); it
represents Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent at the hrst siege of
Vienna in 1529." Such an Otag was shown by Stanisfaw Chlebowski,
the court artist of Sultan Abdul Aziz, in his BaM/c 0/Vicmm, which he
painted for the bicentennial of this event.^
It is a great pity that, as he writes in his famous book, Count
Marsigli never saw the sultan's tents.^ There is no doubt, however,
that sultans' tents were almost always built in a complex and encir-
cled by a fence, or zokak. Apart from the yurtlike tent, described
above, there was also an open tent, sayeban or sayban, for official
activities, talks, and receptions of envoys, for leading a siege of battle
in the held, or even for the interrogation of captives. There are fairly
numerous images of such sayebans in miniatures. They are open, so
that their inner ornate parts are visible; sometimes their domes are
decorated as well, and they regularly have a flat canopy in front,
supported by four poles, making a sort of antechamber. In minia-
tures they are shown from a pecular perspective—from the ground,
to present their inner decorated surfaces. This was also a specific,
conventional Turkish art perspective.
A large tent on three or more poles had a rectangular plan with a
sloping roof and was used for ceremonial receptions as well as for
banqueting. The floor was covered with splendid rugs, carpets, and
cushions; low tables and a sofa, or low soft bench, might be set in
one part of the tent. Usually two sleeping tents, one for warm nights
and the other for cold, were at the sultan's disposal, but we do not
know much about their appurtenances. The bathing and latrine tents
were nearby. Sultans' tents were of the highest possible quality, al-
ways made of double fabric, waterproof outside—usually of green
canvas saturated with copper oxides—and decorated inside. This
interior could be of brocaded silk, ornamented velvet, embroidered
cloth, or traditional applique work, which used small pieces of col-
ored linen, satin, or gilded leather. The usual repertory of Ottoman
flowers had roses, lilies, and carnations prevailing. The tent poles
172
preserved in the Topkapi Saray Museum, but information on them
remains unpublished. Some sources and iconographical clues indi-
cate that the main sultan's tent was round, domed, and made of red
fabric outside; clearly it was modeled on the yurt of the great khan.
The best image of this tent is a miniature painted by Lokman that
appears in the second volume of the TAmcrKamc (1587—1588); it
represents Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent at the hrst siege of
Vienna in 1529." Such an Otag was shown by Stanisfaw Chlebowski,
the court artist of Sultan Abdul Aziz, in his BaM/c 0/Vicmm, which he
painted for the bicentennial of this event.^
It is a great pity that, as he writes in his famous book, Count
Marsigli never saw the sultan's tents.^ There is no doubt, however,
that sultans' tents were almost always built in a complex and encir-
cled by a fence, or zokak. Apart from the yurtlike tent, described
above, there was also an open tent, sayeban or sayban, for official
activities, talks, and receptions of envoys, for leading a siege of battle
in the held, or even for the interrogation of captives. There are fairly
numerous images of such sayebans in miniatures. They are open, so
that their inner ornate parts are visible; sometimes their domes are
decorated as well, and they regularly have a flat canopy in front,
supported by four poles, making a sort of antechamber. In minia-
tures they are shown from a pecular perspective—from the ground,
to present their inner decorated surfaces. This was also a specific,
conventional Turkish art perspective.
A large tent on three or more poles had a rectangular plan with a
sloping roof and was used for ceremonial receptions as well as for
banqueting. The floor was covered with splendid rugs, carpets, and
cushions; low tables and a sofa, or low soft bench, might be set in
one part of the tent. Usually two sleeping tents, one for warm nights
and the other for cold, were at the sultan's disposal, but we do not
know much about their appurtenances. The bathing and latrine tents
were nearby. Sultans' tents were of the highest possible quality, al-
ways made of double fabric, waterproof outside—usually of green
canvas saturated with copper oxides—and decorated inside. This
interior could be of brocaded silk, ornamented velvet, embroidered
cloth, or traditional applique work, which used small pieces of col-
ored linen, satin, or gilded leather. The usual repertory of Ottoman
flowers had roses, lilies, and carnations prevailing. The tent poles
172