Mehmed III was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1595 until his death in 1603. Mehmed was known for ordering the execution of his brothers and leading the army in the Long Turkish war, during which the Ottoman army was victorious at the decisive Battle of Keresztes. This victory was however undermined by some military losses such as in Gyor and Nikopol. He also ordered the successful quelling of the Jelali rebellions. The sultan also communicated with the court of Elizabeth I on the grounds of stronger commercial relations and in the hopes of England to ally with the Ottomans against the Spanish.
Mustafa I, called Mustafa the Saint during his second reign, and called Mustafa the Mad by historians, was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 22 November 1617 to 26 February 1618, and from 20 May 1622 to 10 September 1623. He was the son of sultan Mehmed III and Halime Sultan.
Reza Abbasi, also known as Aqa Reza, was the leading Persian miniaturist of the Isfahan School during the later Safavid period, spending most of his career working for Shah Abbas I. He is considered to be the last great master of the Persian miniature, best known for his single miniatures for muraqqa or albums, especially single figures of beautiful youths.
Levnî Abdulcelil Çelebi (1680s–1732) was an early 18th century Ottoman court painter. He was a prominent Ottoman miniaturist during the Tulip Period, well-regarded for his traditional yet innovative style.
Sheikh Hamdullah (1436–1520), born in Amasya, Ottoman Empire, was a master of Islamic calligraphy.
The Siyer-i Nebi is an Ottoman epic on the life of Muhammad, completed around 1388, written by Mustafa, a Mevlevi dervish on the commission of Sultan Barquq, the Mamluk ruler in Cairo. The text is based on the 13th-century writings of Abu’l Hasan al-Bakri and Ibn Hisham. This epic would later be illustrated by Mustafa ibn Vali in the late 16th century, as commissioned by his patron, Sultan Murad III.
Ottoman architecture is an architectural style or tradition that developed under the Ottoman Empire over a long period, undergoing some significant changes during its history. It first emerged in northwestern Anatolia in the late 13th century and developed from earlier Seljuk Turkish architecture, with influences from Byzantine and Iranian architecture along with other architectural traditions in the Middle East. Early Ottoman architecture experimented with multiple building types over the course of the 13th to 15th centuries, progressively evolving into the classical Ottoman style of the 16th and 17th centuries. This style was a mixture of native Turkish tradition and influences from the Hagia Sophia, resulting in monumental mosque buildings focused around a high central dome with a varying number of semi-domes. The most important architect of the classical period is Mimar Sinan, whose major works include the Şehzade Mosque, Süleymaniye Mosque, and Selimiye Mosque. The second half of the 16th century also saw the apogee of certain decorative arts, most notably in the use of Iznik tiles.
Ottoman miniature or Turkish miniature was a Turkish art form in the Ottoman Empire, which can be linked to the Persian miniature tradition, as well as strong Chinese artistic influences. It was a part of the Ottoman book arts, together with illumination, calligraphy, marbling paper, and bookbinding. The words taswir or nakish were used to define the art of miniature painting in Ottoman Turkish. The studios the artists worked in were called Nakkashanes.
Iznik pottery, or Iznik ware, named after the town of İznik in Anatolia where it was made, is a decorated ceramic that was produced from the last quarter of the 15th century until the end of the 17th century. Turkish stylization is a reflection of Chinese Porcelain.
Gelibolulu Mustafa Âlî bin Ahmed bin Abdülmevlâ Çelebi was an Ottoman historian, bureaucrat and major literary figure.
The Jāmiʿ al-tawārīkh is a work of literature and history, produced in the Mongol Ilkhanate. Written by Rashid al-Din Hamadani at the start of the 14th century, the breadth of coverage of the work has caused it to be called "the first world history". It was in three volumes and published in Arabic and Persian versions.
Turkish or Ottoman illumination covers non-figurative painted or drawn decorative art in books or on sheets in muraqqa or albums, as opposed to the figurative images of the Ottoman miniature. In Turkish it is called “tezhip”, meaning “ornamenting with gold”. It was a part of the Ottoman Book Arts together with the Ottoman miniature (taswir), calligraphy (hat), bookbinding (cilt) and paper marbling (ebru). In the Ottoman Empire, illuminated and illustrated manuscripts were commissioned by the Sultan or the administrators of the court. In Topkapi Palace, these manuscripts were created by the artists working in Nakkashane, the atelier of the miniature and illumination artists. Both religious and non-religious books could be illuminated. Also sheets for albums levha consisted of illuminated calligraphy (hat) of tughra, religious texts, verses from poems or proverbs, and purely decorative drawings.
Şehsuvar Sultan was a consort to the Ottoman Sultan Mustafa II and Valide sultan to their son Osman III.
Hâfiz Osman (1642–1698) was an Ottoman calligrapher noted for improving the script and for developing a layout template for the hilye which became the classical approach to page design.
Siyâvash, Siyavush, or Siyavush Beg was an Iranian illustrator of Georgian origin known for his miniatures with dramatic landscape elements and well-organized compositions. He was active at the court of the Safavid shahs of Iran.
Suyolcuzade Mustafa Eyyubi was a 17th-century Ottoman calligrapher.
Saz style is a style of vegetal ornament and associated with it art style in the 16th-century Ottoman Empire.
The Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp or Houghton Shahnameh is one of the most famous illustrated manuscripts of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Greater Iran, and a high point in the art of the Persian miniature. It is probably the most fully illustrated manuscript of the text ever produced. When created, the manuscript contained 759 pages, 258 of which were miniatures. These miniatures were hand-painted by the artists of the royal workshop in Tabriz under rulers Shah Ismail I and Shah Tahmasp I. Upon its completion, the Shahnameh was gifted to Ottoman Sultan Selim II in 1568. The page size is about 48 x 32 cm, and the text written in Nastaʿlīq script of the highest quality. The manuscript was broken up in the 1970s and pages are now in a number of different collections around the world.
Tulip Period architecture was a stage in Ottoman architecture in the early 18th century. New types of decoration were introduced into the existing classical style of Ottoman architecture and new types of buildings, such as stand-alone fountains and libraries, became important landmarks. The style is most closely associated with the Tulip Period (1718-1730), a period of peace during the reign of Ahmed III when architectural patronage increased in Istanbul after a relative lull in the late 17th century. However, the new style was also present at the beginning of Ahmed III's reign and continued to be evident after him in the 1730s. The introduction of European influences in Ottoman culture and architecture eventually led to the creation of the Ottoman Baroque style in the 1740s.
Şahkulu was an Ottoman painter who played a leading role in a formation of the saz style.
Ornamental drawing, signed "Vali Jan". Istanbul, c. 1580-90. This is the only known work with authentic signature of Veli Can, in a flower in the upper left corner of the drawing. [6] Topkapı Palace Library
Ornamental drawing of a palmette, from an album (muraqqa) in Topkapı Palace Library, H. 2147 f. 23v
The Prince and the Petitioner. Based on an original by Sultan Mohammed. Metropolitan Museum of Art
Youthful Falconers in a Landscape. Metropolitan Museum of Art
Portrait of a Woman. Ottoman miniature by Veli Can or another artist of his circle, ca. 1585. Sadberk Hanım Museum
Lady with a Rose. Possibly school of Veli Can. Detroit Institute of Arts
Young Falconer. Drawing in the style of Veli Can, ca. 1580. Aga Khan Museum
