Topkapi Palace Textiles part 2

Silk, spangles, silver and shading

This is the second in my series about some of the textiles from the Topkapı Palace. Today I’ll be showing you some embroidered women’s garments. These were clothing of women in the Sultans’ families.

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Silk, spangles, silver and shading

I apologise for the image quality. These photos are only happy snaps taken in low light.

The first example is a robe owned by Fatma Sultan, daughter of Sultan Mustafa. She was born in 1770.

Robe, Ottoman, second half of 18th century. Made of silk and cotton fabric with silk embroidery.

Sleeve detail. I am not sure of the stitch/es used to work this embroidery and the museum information did not say. To my eye, it looks like some sort of couching. However, a book I own, “Ottoman Embroidery” by Marianne Ellis and Jennifer Wearden, seems to suggest it might be double darning. Don’t take this supposition of mine as gospel!

Embroidery and button detail.

More embroidery detail.

The second example is an Ottoman robe from the late 18th century or early 19th century.

Robe, Ottoman, late 18th - early 19th century. Wool and cotton fabric, with silver thread and spangles.

Again, my captions are suppositions based on what I see. The leaf spangles appear to be backstitched on, whereas the stem spangles appear to be stem stitched on with silver purl thread.

Neckline and embroidery detail.

Sleeve detail.

The third example is a robe which belonged to Saliha Sultan’a, the daughter of Sultan Abdulhamid I. The robe dates from the late 18th century.

Robe, Ottoman, late 18th century. Silk and cotton fabric, embroidered with silver thread.

Because the fabric for this robe has a woven pattern, there is less embroidery worked on it. The embroidery is metal thread embroidery, worked near the edges of the garment.

I’m not a metal thread embroidery expert, but it looks like most of this is worked with metal plate. The braid edging right on the edges is very decorative too.

The final example is another robe, also belonging to Saliha Sultan’a, the daughter of Sultan Abdulhamid I. She died in 1786.

Robe, Ottoman, late 18th century. Cotton fabric with silk, silver and gold thread.

Detail of the front edges of the robe.

Detail of the embroidery. Probably double darning again (though I am no expert on this!)

Sleeve detail showing braid edging, metal work and silk embroidery.

Hem detail.

I still have more to share with you from the Topkapı Palace, so stay tuned.

The book I mentioned is “Ottoman Embroidery” by Marianne Ellis and Jennifer Wearden. V&A Publications, 2001. ISBN: 1851773479. The examples featured in the book are all from the collection of the V&A.

The book is available second hand (at great expense!) but I’d check libraries first to see if your local collection has it, or if you can obtain it through an interlibrary loan.

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