Binding of a Koran

This binding protected an undated Koran, signed by the calligrapher ‘Abd al-Rahman. It comprises four gold plates attached by hinges of varying widths, made from gold wire twisted around rods which are connected by gold beads forming articulated chains to allow a the binding to open easily and smoothly. The upper and lower plates, of the same format, have similar decoration. A border, in relief inlaid with two rows of rubies at the corners and punctuated with triangular emeralds, frames the central, almost cruciform field. This field is decorated with a spray of rubies and emeralds on a background covered with a trellis of delicately tooled foliage and flowers with pomegranates. A central mandorla in grey jade is decorated with foliage embellished with delicate leaves and larges flowers and inlaid in the centre with seven rubies.

The decoration of the flap echoes that of the plates but in a simplified style. The pentagonal covering, without inlays, displays a lobed mandorla composition with side shoots, recalling the decoration of certain book bindings and carpets. It is structured on a double-symmetrical axis with two entwined stems springing from each corner. The surface is decorated with an arabesque motif punctuated with engraved leaves and flowers, the guilloche background of which contrasts with the flat centre of the medallions. The inside cover is covered with openwork gold leaf, decorated in the centre and in the corners with tooled and guilloche floral medallions on a doublure of blue silk.

The inlays on this binding exemplify an aesthetic characteristic of the second half of the sixteenth century. Inlays of gold and stones in jade are typical of the reign of Süleyman (r. 1520-1566). Small indents were made in the stone to receive a gold collar of grooved petals (gül resmi (in the form of a rose)) or almond-shaped leaves. However, certain earlier techniques are also shared with the West, such as the mounting, a worked metal receptacle to take the inlay which was often used on gold bindings or reliquaries (for example, the reliquary of Saint Foie de Conques, 985).

Another particularity of this object, also apparent on jugs and flasks (matara), is the technique of employing ridged gold wire to create a filigree effect. This application is also known in the Byzantine arts, for example on Pala d’Oro[1].

This admiration for inlaid work is not limited to the Turkish arts; it is also present in India and Iran. A great number of artists in the imperial workshops were Iranian; they invented certain decorative styles in painting, which thereafter influenced other decorative arts, for example, ceramics, and gold work and so on. Equally, the dissemination of objects accounts for the spread of tastes and models; after the conquest of the city of Tabriz by the Ottomans in 1514, Safavid treasures, which included much Chinese porcelain, was brought back to the Topkapi Palace, contributing to the creation of a new aesthetic in the heart of the Empire. These porcelain objects were sometimes embellished in the Palace workshops with gold mountings and stone settings.