OTTOMAN TURKEY, 17TH CENTURY

This skillfully-inlaid Ottoman scribe’s desk was made during the 17th century, probably built for a scholar or calligrapher to use both as a desk, but also as storage for their books and writing equipment. The interlacing star design found on the top, sides and back of the present table closely relates to the decoration in the Bağdat Köşkü (Baghdad Pavilion), in the Topkapı Sarayı, Istanbul, dated to 1638. In particular, comparison can be made to decorated panels on the doors of the pavilion (Esin Atil, Turkish Art, Washington D.C., 1980, no. 13, p. 114). It is uncommon to find a desk of this type decorated solely with ebony, mother of pearl, and bone, as tortoiseshell was a fashionable and frequently used material. The craftsman in charge of this desk clearly made a deliberate choice to exclude tortoiseshell from the decoration. Our box is similar in decoration to the tomb of Shahzade Mehmed, the only other known object from the same period that utilizes ebony without tortoiseshell. The tomb is situated in the tomb pavilion of Sultan Selim II, which is a component of the Suleymaniye complex.

A very similarly decorated writer's table is in the British Museum (inv. 1991,0717.2). Examples sold at auction include one sold at Christie's London, Ottomans & Orientalists, 21 June 2000, lot 87, and another sold at Sotheby's, London, 24 April 2012, lot 170.