1985.247: Illuminated firman (royal decree) with ornamental tughra of Sultan Ahmed III (r.1703-1730)

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1985.247

Title

Illuminated firman (royal decree) with ornamental tughra of Sultan Ahmed III (r.1703-1730)

Classification

Calligraphy

Work Type

calligraphy

Date

1721

Places

Creation Place: Middle East, Türkiye (Turkey)

Period

Ottoman period

Culture

Ottoman

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/215583

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Ink, colors and gold on paper

Dimensions

124 x 50.2 cm (48 13/16 x 19 3/4 in.)
frame: 162.6 x 66 x 4.8 cm (64 x 26 x 1 7/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

[Joseph Soustiel, Paris, summer 1968], sold; to Edwin Binney, 3rd, 1968, bequest; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1985.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Edwin Binney, 3rd Collection of Turkish Art at the Harvard Art Museums

Accession Year

1985

Object Number

1985.247

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

• Anthony Welch, Calligraphy in the Arts of the Muslim World, University of Tennessee Press (Austin, TX, 1979), p.100, fig. 33
• Edwin Binney III, Turkish Treasures from the Collection of Edwin Binney, 3rd, exh. cat., Portland Art Museum (Portland, OR, 1979), pp.101-102, fig. 64
• Amy Landau, ed., Pearls on a String: Artists, Patrons, and Poets at the Great Islamic Courts, exh. cat., The Walters Art Museum (Baltimore, 2015), p. 226, fig. 7.15

Exhibition History

• The Edwin Binney 3rd Collection of Turkish Art at the Harvard University Art Museums, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/16/1987 - 08/02/1987
• Geometry of the Spirit: Islamic Illumination and Calligraphy, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/30/1988 - 06/26/1988
• Traces of the Calligrapher: Islamic Calligraphy in Practice, c. 1600–1900, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, 11/03/2007 - 02/03/2008; Asia Society Museum, New York, 10/07/2008 - 02/08/2009; Michael C. Carlos Museum of Art, Atlanta, 08/28/2010 - 12/05/2010
• Traces of the Poet, Artist, and Patron in the Age of Islamic Empires, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, 11/08/2015 - 01/31/2016; Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, 02/26/2016 - 05/08/2016

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