Chinese porcelain, fit for a sultan
ISTANBUL — A 5,250- square- meter palace kitchen on Istanbul’s European side fed over 5,000 people a day during the Ottoman Empire’s heyday.
Smoke swirled from 10 big chimneys in Topkapi Palace, which was the symbol of the empire’s power and prosperity.
“To make palace kitchens and tables even more magnificent and splendid, the Ottoman sultans in the 13th century began to collect the most beautiful samples of Chinese porcelain,” says Topkapi Palace Museum Porcelain Collection manager Omur Tufan.
Sultans presented these rare pieces at weddings, circumcision ceremonies and other important days as status symbols, he explains.
A nearly 12,000- piece collection of Chinese porcelain is now on display in the Topkapi Palace Museum. It presents an uninterrupted chronology of Chinese porcelain’s evolution between the 13th and 19th centuries.
“These are the ones that have been well preserved and remain to the present day,” Tufan says.
Historians believe the actual number of Chinese porcelain pieces used in the Ottoman palaces exceeded 100,000, but most were lost or destroyed in earthquakes and fires.
Tufan says some were gifts from high- level officials or diplomatic missions. A significant part of the collection was brought from China along the ancient Silk Road.
“Until the early 1700s, China was the only porcelain producer in the world, and the pieces it produced were very precious. They were known as ‘ white gold’,” he says.
“The Ottoman Empire, on the other hand, did not know how to make it since they were not familiar with the technology. Therefore, the sultans were very keen on these products, attributing great importance to using them as a symbol of nobility.”
Tufan explains that Chinese celadon was preferred in the palace kitchens because it was believed to change color or crack when exposed to poison.
“For this reason, the sultans usually ate their meals on plates made of celadon,” he says.
“They also loved the yellow ones, which were known as ‘ the emperor’s yellow’, and they used these pieces during … Ramadan, as the color symbolized both the nobility and also simplicity.”
In the 16th century, Chinese artists started to write Quran verses on the porcelain. During this period, Muslim countries and the Ottoman sultans purchased many pieces for dinnerware, Tufan says.
Deniz Esemenli, a retired academic and author of several books on Ottoman history, says Chinese porcelain adorned not only Ottoman palaces but also the entire world until the 16th century.
“China initiated and significantly contributed to the development of porcelain production in the Ottoman Empire,” Esemenli says.
“Starting from the 19th century, Turkish artists produced many pieces by imitating Chinese patterns, mostly inspired by the blue- andwhite samples.”