Water Ewers in the Topkapi Palace Museum

Abstract

Metalworks, a significant branch of Turkish Art, reached its peak along with other art branches in the Ottoman era and was manifest in various forms and decorations. However it is known that a part of these metalworks have been melted following wars and invasions and converted to other forms, their raw materials were sometimes used completely for different purposes. Accordingly, the fact that metalworks have not reached our era, in sufficient amounts to represent each era and region presents difficulties in establishing their typology. Five ewers in the Topkapı Palace Museum in Istanbul, which constitute a part of my research in Ottoman metalwork, are first described in detail in terms of their material, form, decoration and technical characteristics, and then situated within the development of Turkish metalwork on the basis of comparisons and evaluations.