In Ottoman society, jewelry and accessories had a long-standing association with status and wealth. Pieces designed for the sultan and his entourage inspired emulations for the wealthy upper classes such as the ones here. Often made with large quantities of silver and adorned with gems and colorful inlays, such works also served as part of a woman’s dowry and as a means of storing wealth. These objects, worked mainly in gilded silver and featuring nineteenth-century silversmithing techniques developed in the Ottoman lands, epitomize the range of Moore’s jewelry holdings. Their repoussé and applied decoration in filigree or granulation achieves a complex texture in relief and openwork that would have resonated with his aesthetic sensibilities. Two common overall designs were employed in the clasps. The larger examples— weighing one pound each—feature monumental, stylized tulip shapes, here in the three-part arrangement favored by Ottoman imperial society. The smaller example is typical of accessories in circular or oval shapes with multilobed edges.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Girdle Clasp
Date:19th century
Geography:Probably from Balkans or Turkey
Medium:Silver sheet; applied with filigree, granulation, inlaid with enamel
Dimensions:Overall with chain: H. 11 5/16 in. (28.7 cm) W. 10 11/16 in. (27.2 cm) D. 2 3/8 in. (6 cm) Wt. 20.266oz. (574.6g)
Classification:Jewelry
Credit Line:Edward C. Moore Collection, Bequest of Edward C. Moore, 1891
Accession Number:91.1.1100
Late Ottoman Jewelry and Accessories: 91.1.1123, .1122, .1109a, b; .1100, .1105
In Ottoman society, decorating the body and clothing with jewelry and accessories had a long tradition, commonly associated with social status and wealth. Precious gold or silver ornamented with gems symbolized imperial splendor, but pieces designed for the sultan and his entourage also inspired less costly imitations such as the ones here, made with coral and turquoise. Adorned with precious or semiprecious stones, colorful inlays, and jewels, such works also served as part of a woman’s dowry and as a means of storing wealth. These five objects, featuring nineteenth-century silversmithing techniques that developed in the Ottoman lands from the Balkans to the Caucasus, epitomize the range of forms and techniques found in Moore’s jewelry holdings. Worked mainly in gilded silver and reflecting the imperial style, their repoussé or applied decoration in filigree or granulation achieves a complex texture in relief and openwork that would have resonated with his aesthetic sensibilities. Their extensive use of silver, particularly in the heavy girdle clasps, weighing one pound each (91.1.1100 and 91.1.1105), indicates that they were most likely intended for the wealthy and the upper classes.
In one girdle clasp (91.1.1109a, b), the metal itself is emphasized in a virtuoso display of the artisan’s skill. Thick silver wires, filigree, and granulation define a series of concentric circles, each filled with stylized scrolling vines (the leaves are in fine silver sheets) and decorative rosettes. Another (91.1.1100) features well-defined openwork filigree and granulation, supplemented by green and blue enamel inlays forming circular patterns and a stylized tulip. The sculptural clasp (91.1.1105) combines repoussé work and granulation for the leaves and flowers, with colorful accents of coral and turquoise beads. Two common overall designs were employed in these clasps: circular or oval shapes with multilobed edges (91.1.1109a, b), and monumental stylized tulip shapes, here in the tripartite arrangement favored in Ottoman imperial society (91.1.1100 and 91.1.1105).[1]
In their shape the turban ornaments, common in the Ottoman world, echo the feather fitted at the back of such headdresses.[2] The one probably from Istanbul (91.1.1123) is distinguished by numerous colorful enamel inlays, characteristic of a traditional style that played with pastel and saturated tones to create nuanced shades (white and red). This style, also shared by Ottoman manuscript painting in Istanbul, indicates that the jewelry was produced in the capital, possibly for the upper class or court.[3]
Deniz Beyazit in [Higgins Harvey 2021]
Footnotes:
1. For the first design, see Bilgi, Hülya and Idil Zanbak. Cevher: Sadberk Hanim Müzesi koleksiyonundan mineli ve murassa eserler/Jewel: Enamelled and Jewelled Objects from the Sadberk Hanim Museum Collection. Exh. cat. Istanbul: Sadberk Hanim Müzesi, 2015, p. 25, fig. 10, and pp. 74, 86–87, 90–92, 96–97, nos. 2, 9, 11–13, 16. For similar tuliplike belt ornaments, see Aysel Cotelioglu and Hande Gunyol in Topkapi Sarayi Harem-i Humayunu 2012, p. 112, no. 23; see also Bilgi and Zanbak 2015 (see above), pp. 88–89, no. 10.
2. Similar examples with precious stones are worn by Ottoman sultans depicted in paintings; for examples featuring the sultans Mustafa III (r. 1757–74) and Mustafa IV (r. 1807–8), see Irepoglu, Gül. Imperial Ottoman Jewellery: Reading History through Jewellery. Istanbul: Bilkent Kültür Girisimi Yaninlari, 2012, ill. nos. 179, 181. See also Bilgi and Zanbak 2015 (see note 1), pp. 110–11, no. 26, pp. 116–17, no. 29.
3. See a Qur’an manuscript dated 1851–52 in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection (1980.603).
Edward C. Moore (American), New York (until d. 1891; bequeathed to MMA)
Beyazit, Deniz, Maryam Ekhtiar, and Sheila R. Canby. Collecting Inspiration : Edward C. Moore at Tiffany & Co., edited by Medill Higgins Harvey. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2021. no. 120D, p. 186, ill.
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