Investigation of the Structure and Arrangements Used in the Ottoman velvet of Topkapı Museum Palace

 
Velvet is one of the most luxurious textiles that has been produced and used in different societies. The exact beginning of the texture of this valuable fabric is not known. However, examples of it have been observed in different civilizations of the world from East and West. In the Ottoman Empire, velvet with various designs was produced. Today, a significant number of Ottoman velvet is kept in museums or palaces. One of the most complete collections of Ottoman velvet is the specimen now housed in the home textile collection of the Topkapı Museum Palace. Therefore, in this research, the question is what are the arrangements used in the Ottoman velvet of Topkapı Museum Palace?
To answer this question in the present study, the remnants of Ottoman velvet are studied and with information extracted from the appearance of these textiles, including visual elements and compositions, including symmetry, golden proportions, and numerical ratios. It tries to answer the question of this research. Certainly, the study of the visual elements and compositions used in these velvet, which constitute the components of their organization and structure, can help to better understand the principles of traditional design used in Ottoman textiles. In order to do this important work in this study, the velvet collections of the home textile collection of Topkapı Museum Palace were selected and their structural details and arrangement were analyzed. These velvets belong to the treasury pavilion that was built in the seventeenth century and is added to the Topkapı collection. According to Julia Tezcan's catalog in 2007, there are ten examples of velvet home textiles. The selected velvets are all 17^th-century Anatolian textures. These velvets were all woven and used to cover the royal throne and were exhibited at the same site, the museum palace treasury pavilion, only for a short time during the 11^th ICOC conference. Table (1) shows the characteristics of the Ottoman velvets studied in this study.
To conduct this research, it was necessary to first define the organization and some of its most important parameters in order to provide a model for its study. This includes the organization of concepts such as composition and visual elements, the study of each of which alone can be a separate article. Therefore, only a limited number of parameters that make up the composition and visual elements that can express the basic geometric properties of Ottoman velvet have been investigated in this study. Fig.1 shows the model designed to examine the structure and arrangement used in the Ottoman velvet in the textile collection of the Topkapı Museum Palace in this study.
The present study is a fundamental theoretical study to explain the characteristics of the types of velvet in the home textile collection of the Topkapı Museum Palace. The research method is descriptive-analytical and the results of the analysis are presented qualitatively and quantitatively. In the analysis of the arrangements used in the velvet design, a structuralist approach based on the pattern is designed to study the structure and geometric arrangement (Fig.1), and in the content analysis, induction and analogy have been used.
 
Fig.1: Relationship pattern between constituent parameters to study the structure and organization of velvet specimens
Table1: Ottoman velvet specimens





Specimens


No1


No2


No3


No4


No5




 
 
Pattern

 
 
 
 
 



Dimensions


65×175


67×200


62.5×200


61.3×120


66×119




Specimens


No6


No7


No8


No9


No10




 
 
Pattern

 
 
 
 
 



Dimensions


67×120


61×150


66.5×115


65×181


63×171





 
The results of this study showed that the color variety of velvet is limited to 3 colors and the matte red color in most of them is not only always present but also in many of them is the dominant color. The dimensions of the velvet samples are 115 to 200 cm in length and 61 to 67 cm in width or width, which is certainly due to the type of weaving-loom to produce this type of textile. Examination of the design and role of velvet revealed that one of the two motifs, tulip or clove, was used in them alone or together.
It is also possible to classify the design and role of Ottoman velvet based on the presence of a lappet strip at both ends of the transverse end and the end of the velvet. The role used in the double-ended strips of the transverse and velvet ends is always a combination of six consecutive altars. In lappet velvet and in the area between the two laps, the central design is sometimes enclosed by a border. The velvet-free velvet design is also a repetitive and contagious role that can be limited to a narrow margin. Velvet with a repetitive design is mostly borderless. The main background of fringed lappet velvet is based on a central point. In other words, the background design of this group of velvet is either a small flower that has eight branches or large bergamot that can have a background with four elastics in the four corners.
Examination of the symmetry of design and role in the sample of Ottoman velvet showed that the design and role of velvet always have symmetry. Some specimens have only a vertical symmetry of 1/2 and others have symmetry in both vertical and horizontal directions. It should be noted that in Ottoman velvet, the velocity of the velvet background design does not cause symmetry in both vertical and horizontal directions. The results of this study showed that the golden rectangle varies from √2 to √20 in each of the four parts studied. The highest exposure ratio in the golden ratio for velvet samples in the four parts understudy is mainly in the main dimensions and the dimensions of the lappet.
To calculate the numerical ratios of the components of a velvet, first, its different parts were measured on the velvet image with a single magnification and then by dividing the two measured. numerical values, the desired dimensional numerical ratio was calculated in the velvet sample. Based on the results, it was observed that in the sample of velvet studied, the ratio of velvet background length to velvet fabric length was always set to about . On the other hand, the velvet weavers and designers of the Ottoman court always adjusted the width to length ratio of the lap to about .
It should be noted that research in the field of Ottoman culture, which was once part of Iran and now in its neighborhood and has had various relations with Iran for many years, in addition to increasing awareness of Ottoman culture, familiarity It will help more with the ancient culture of Iran. This is important by identifying visual perceptions in different types of Ottoman textiles and comparing them with the results extracted from visual perceptions used in velvet to explain the geometric principles and conventional arrangements in the design of Ottoman fabrics and then compare the results with visual perceptions extracted from fabric design. Iranian originals will be obtained. Examining the commonalities and differences between Iranian and Ottoman textiles will determine their influence on each other.