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Traditional
Furniture in Turkish Houses,
Candan Sezgin, TBMM National Palaces Cultural and Representation
Department, Dolmabahce Palace
Turks, for many years, lived in tents which were called "Yurt" in
The Middle Asia as a nomadic community, then dating from the 11th
century starting to migrate in time gradually to Anatolia, continued
their lives in the plateaus in summer and in the settled villages in
winter. The Seljuk Turks in Anatolia, The Turkish Principalities and
The Ottoman Empire that was build up in the 13th century and
expanded in size and culture, then on provided a period of
transition for Anatolian Turks to settle down. The nomadic culture,
the Islamic world sight the Turks adopted together with the
historical values of the Anatolian culture made a synthesis and
formed a new style and culture.
Turks, as a result of their settled life in Anatolia, made up the
famous model the "Turkish house" in which they benefited from the
furniture shaped by their own culture, tradition and needs.
Because of the structure of the Turkish- Islamic way of thinking
based on the "few but the main" principle, very few furniture was
used in Anatolian Turkish House for years. More importance was given
to functional and at the same time decorative qualities of the
furniture used in homes. The traditional Turkish furnishings that
vary in number in terms of the materials and the manufacturing
technique used, convey the most beautiful models of the Turkish
handcrafts and woodworks worth to see.
Traditional Furnishings
The term "Turkish house" has developed and acquired an authentic
sense in the period of The Ottoman Empire. In those houses, group
mentality can not be seen among the furnishings. However, the
furnishings are harmonious with each other in size whereas are
complementary in terms of their functions. As being fixed furniture
depending upon the architecture, shelves, built in closets and
sherbetlics were used, while as for sitting sets on the other hand,
surrounding sedir were placed all around where necessary. However
sandik, besik / cradle, sehpa / stool, rahle and kavukluk kind of
wall were used as portable furniture. In Turkish Houses portables do
not always stand in the middle. For instance rahle was only used
when Koran or other books would be read or sehpa would be used only
to put something on.
The Manufacturing Techniques and the
Material
Furniture-making is shaped by the formation of the object which has
a specific type and function according to the insight of the
craftsman in terms of decoration and skill. Different kinds and
colors of wooden materials are used. For the work of the wooden
object; carving openwork (ajur), tenon (kundekari) and such
techniques were made use of while for the embellishments inlaying,
overlaying and painting were used, for decorative reasons.
Mother of pearl, ivory, tortoise shell, antler, gold gilding and
madder have been the fundamentals of decoration. Each individually
being an art work , for the brilliance and conservation of the
wooden furniture ; gomalak / shellac, lak / gum lac, mum cila / wax
and such type of special mixture varnishes were used.
The Wooden Furniture Manufacturing Centers
In the period of the Ottoman Empire, Bursa, Edirne and Istanbul -
the capital cities respectively in time- some special ateliers were
established. Besides, there were independent craftsmen creating
works carrying the local cultural characteristics in different
Anatolian cities. Each furniture and manufacturing center had its
own style and the copies of furniture produced their in were tried
to be made in either outer lands of or in provinces under the
Ottoman Empire. The works were called according to the center where
they were manufactured: As Istanbul work, Adalar work, Edirne work
or Uskudar work. While some elaborately dressed works are produced
in centers and in cities effected by those, man in Anatolia used the
furniture he embellished and painted. Too many honorable experts are
trained to transform the object to an art work.
The Ornamentation Program
While naturalist, improvisatory designs, flower, leaf and plant
motifs, flags, crescent-star, Kaaba pictures were used on the
furniture in the Turkish houses in rural areas, in the city houses,
stylized plant motifs, geometric patterns, heraldries, naturmontal
embellishments were used that were introduced to Ottomans in the
period of "Tulip Period" in the 18th century" because of
occidentalizm.
The European furniture which varied in number and in model after the
Industrial Revolution, in the 19th century was introduced to the
palaces, kiosks and lodges of the upper class Ottomans by the
catalogues and presentation of the merchants . Therefore , as well
as the already used designs like animal figures, imperial monograms-tughras-,
medallions and heraldries; Baroque, Rococo, Imperial and Art Nouveau
styles also were added to Turkish ornamentation program of
furniture.
Traditional Furniture Materials in the
Turkish House
The materials to be introduced below are few original examples used
in Turkish houses and they bear the value of being important
representatives and witnesses of Turkish cultural heritage and life
culture.
Sandik (Chest)
Sandik is one of the common furniture that human beings use since he
or she started to keep-store and carry his or her goods, clothes,
various objects, food and holy mantles for example.
Sandik is one of the most frequent furniture used in Anatolia
Turkish houses. Most were made up of wood and dower chest are the
loveliest examples to those. Carved, embroidered, gold, silver,
mother- of- pearl and ivory inlayed, painted or covered with fabric,
each of the chests has a different lock system. Some of the chests
have small compartments and coffers.
In the 19th century, in Istanbul, there was a street composed of
approximately 60 chest producers. The workmanship was at its peak in
terms of quality. The chest would be made with that tenon system
without using nails or wedges, and cypress -wood would be used for
odor of the object being kept (1).
Kavukluk
Kavukluk is a kind of the wall shelf composed of two or three pieces
and is hanged or mounted on the wall. Kavukluk is hanged on the wall
on the base of a height of an average person. Also there are some
examples placed on the corners. Usually was used to carry the
lighting equipment.
Kavukluks, on which some decorative objects or mirrors are placed
have adopted a decorative identity in those splendor decor of the
Ottoman Palaces. Like the rahles and sehpas, the kavukluks also do
reflect the artistic understanding of their own periods. While some
samples are adorned with gold gilding, openwork, carvings in Edirne
work and painted usually in the colors green and yellow and used by
the middle class families, the ones which are richly ornamented in
Istanbul work decorate the most valuable spaces.
Rahle
Rahle , which is seen after the reproduction of the Holy Book Koran,
is designed to read the Koran and the other books at ease. During
the first years of Islam Korans were written on parchments in big
characters and thus were great in size and heavy in weight. That's
why the former rahles were pretty big and moreover some of them were
designed with seats. Since great importance and care is given to the
Holy Book Koran, rahles are adorned with valuable materials.
With its dictionary meaning, rahle is a small table collapsible in
some and book is read or something is written thereon. Some of those
have small parts in which you can keep the book being read. Together
with the development of writing and the use of paper, rahles are
varied in style, but were produced in a much smaller size.
Rahles have two groups: First group are the stationary ones which
have horizontal desks and some also have drawers. The second group
are the collapsible ones in "X" shape that are formed by the
insertion of two pieces of wooden panels into one another. In the
Anatolian houses, usually, this second type of rahles were used
starting from the Anatolian Seljuks (2).
The rahle art has been effected by the styles emerged in
architecture features in classical in 16th and 17th centuries,
Baroque and Imperial styles in 18th and 19th centuries can be seen
within this frame.
Beşik (Cradle)
In a Turkish house, for the fresh-born babies, the first bed is the
besik with the spreads used within. It is the tradition to get ready
for besik decoration and spread preparation days before the birth.
To rock the besik , the edges were designed in arc form and there is
a holding bar above while the couch part is raised or covered on
sides. Sometimes besik is used like swings there by hanging them by
the ends.
Serbetlik
Serbetlik is the inset paneled wardrobe seen up to the 18th century
in the Anatolian Turkish house. But in the course of time, it was
substituted by the independent buffets fitted with mirrors. Usually
it has a vaulted or quadrupled frontal and ornamented shelves and
small niches on sides and is placed in the middle of the walls of
the room. Surrounding small niches which are called "Gilve" are for
the decorative objects like oil lamp, water bottle, pot, vase,
censers etc. Some of the lower parts of serbetlik have small
compartments with covers in which plates, glasses, cups, coffee pots
and that kind of service objects are kept. The facades, frontal and
sides of the serbetlik are usually made up of carved wood and
ornamented with rosettes, various plants, flowers and landscape
paintings.
Sehpa
The most important function of the sehpa was to carry the service
tray on it. Functioning as tables, the sehpas were proportional to
the divans in sizes thus were practical in use. Were produced either
hexagonal or octagonal in shape. In the daily life, they were put by
the divans but sometimes also were just put in the middle . Their
tops could be of tortoise shell, horn, mother-of-pearl, ivory, gold,
silver inlaid, but also there are the ones which have tile
plaquettes on them. Besides, in homes small round tables for rolling
out dough were also used and still are being used in the rural
village houses today.
Sedir
The mattresses used to sit on in Turkish tents left their place to
the setting sets called divan or sofa after Turks settled down in
Anatolia.
As a common principle, divans which became integrated with the
decoration, were placed by the walls in order to create space in the
middle of the rooms (3).
Divans, being formed by increasing the height of the floor with a
wooden platform, usually do not exceed 1/2 meters. Surrounding the
room inside, the divans are upholstered with various kinds of
textile materials and for comfort, mattresses and cushions are made
use of.
J. Thevenot, a European traveler who came to the land of Ottomans in
the years 1655-1656, says those about interior appearance of Turkish
Houses and palaces : "In all of the rooms and halls, there are sets
for sitting 1/2 meters in height and called "Divan" which are
covered with much nicer and valuable carpets than those used to
decorate the floor. The gilded cushions are put against the walls.
You can rest on these divans and spend the most beautiful hours of
the day here (4).
Because divans are comfortable and traditional, they have always
been used in the Ottoman Palaces. Being as models to thrones, were
produced with splats and oriental motifs and called as "Ottoman or
Sofa"
References
(1) Pretextat LECOMTE , Turkiye'de Sanatlar ve Zanaatlar / Arts and
Crafts in Turkey (late 19th century), Tercuman, 1001 Eser, Istanbul,
1956, p. 85.
(2) Zeki Talip SENYURT, Turk Islam Eserleri Muzesi'ndeki Kakmali
Rahleler / Rahles in Relief at the Museum of Turkish Islam Works,
M.U. Institute of Islamic Studies , Master Thesis, Istanbul, 1993,
p. 3
(3) Prof.Dr.Onder KUCUKERMAN, "Geleneksel Turk Evi Mimari Mekan
Kimligi ve Topkapi Sarayindaki Oncu Ornekler / Identity of
Archaeological Space in Traditional Turkish House and Vanguard
Samples at the Topkapi Palace" , Antik Dekor, No: 15, 1992, p. 20-24
(4) Sebahattin TURKOGLU, "Saray ve Konaklarimizda Geleneksel Ic
Dekor / Traditional Interior Decoration of Palaces and Mansions",
Antik Dekor, No: 15, 1992, p. 26-30
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