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Art was an instrument of
dynastic expression and it flourish under the Ottoman Period.
Ottoman decorative arts
and the arts of the book were enriched by the repertoire of floral
and vegetable motifs
developed in fifteenth-century Iran. It is well know as Timurid
style.
In the sixteenth century
book illustration contributed to the development of a new and
distinctive Mughal
idiom.
Toward the mid-sixteenth
century the colors that the artist used were bright grass green,
and brilliant red.
Pottery had long admired, and collected in the Islamic world. One
type of
decorative motif
associated with blue and white consists of slender spiral scrolls
punctuated by rosettes,
semicircles and comma-shaped leaves.
Another work of
collection was cushions to cover a throne or a sofa; the crimson
satin fabric
is embroidered with
silk, gold and silver thread. The embroidery and the use of silver
and
gold metallic thread
demonstrate the unrivaled level of excellence of sixteenth-century
Ottoman imperial
textiles.
Between the art pieces
is important to mention the manuscript illustrations. The museum’s
collection includes a
painting from a manuscript whose size scale and quality make it one
of the most luxurious
Islamic books ever created. The original manuscript included 258
illustrations, more than
one thousand pages of text, innumerable illuminations and all these
with gold-flecked
borders.
Papers were an important
element to make the manuscripts. Papermaking was introduced
to the Islamic world
from China in the mid-eighth century.
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