Abstract
Migration, as a result of wars, economic crises, natural disasters, and epidemics, has been the leading factor for cultural encounters in the historical process. Artists, who migrated sometimes as prisoners of war and sometimes to find more suitable markets, caused the introduction of new formations by transferring their styles during migration. In this study, the authors discussed the Baba Nakkaş style in Ottoman tile art and aimed to establish a link between Timurid Style and Baba Nakkaş Style. It examined how Baba Nakkaş interpreted his knowledge, which he brought with him from the Khorasan region to Istanbul via migration, under the Ottoman identity. The reflections of this new and now “Ottoman” style on other fields such as the art of bookbinding, illumination, calligraphy, and wall painting are also examined. The other part of the study demonstrates how this style from the 15-16th century is approached by today's artists. The study deals with both the Iran-Anatolia encounter and the 15-16th century Baba Nakkaş Style and the 21st-century repetition of the style.
TopBaba Nakkaş And The Nakkaşhane Of Palace
The Ottoman state, continuing the tradition of having a nakkaşhane in the palaces of the rulers and being a patron of art, moved the nakkaşhane in Edirne to the new capital after Mehmed II’s conquest of Istanbul. Baba Nakkaş was the head of the nakkaşhane established in Topkapı Palace (Ünver, 1958, pp. 1-5). Since there are no Ehl-i Hiref Registers from the period of Sultan Mehmed II, we do not have much information about Baba Nakkaş.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Iznik: The first capital of the Ottomans in Turkey. First period tile production center.
Baba Nakkas: The chief nakkas of the Ottoman palace nakkashane during the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror. Khorasanian artist of Uzbek origin, whose real name is Muhammed bin Sheikh Bayezid.
Baba Nakkas Style: It is the name given to the ornament program in the rumi-hatayi style developed under the direction of the artist named Baba Nakkas, who was chief nakkas of the Ottoman palace nakkashane during the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror. The production of blue-white tiles in Iznik covers the years between 1480 and 1530.
Illumination: The art of ornamentation created by brushing crushed gold and paint on manuscripts, plates, and murakkas.
Nakkashane: The palace workshop established by Fatih Sultan Mehmed in the 15th century in Topkapi Palace, located outside the Bab-i Hümayûn, next to Arslanhane.
Kütahya: The second period center of Ottoman tile-ceramic production in Turkey.
Timurid Art: Art activities that took place in the Timurid state from the end of the 14th century to the beginning of the 15th century, in the region that covers Central Asia and Eastern Iran and today's Afghanistan.
Tile: A hard ceramic made from cored paste, kilned at approximately 1580-2000 °C, and produced as wall covering or portable ware.