Three Books on Ottoman Embroidery: A Review
Fortunately for embroiderers, there are a number of lovely books on Ottoman embroidery available. Unfortunately for those of us in the SCA, only a small amount of Ottoman embroidery has survived from the 16th century, and little or none from earlier. There is no single book devoted to "our" period. So we must look at a number of sources and extract the information that will be useful to us.
People living in the Ottoman Empire used embroidery on a wide range of items. Personal items included clothing, shalvar, sashes, scarves, handkerchiefs, turban covers (to cover turbans when they are not worn). Domestic embroideries appeared on napkins, towels, bed and cushion covers, mirror covers, table cloths, wall hangings, and floor coverings. Ceremonial embroideries were featured in ritual shaving, circumcision, marriage, and gift giving. And in military and public display, tents and horse and carriage covers were embroidered.
All three Ottoman embroidery books have full color photographs, which make it clear that embroideries from the 16th and early 17th centuries use a very limited palette (primarily red, blue, yellow, white, green, and a little black) and only two or three stitches. All three books attempt to put the embroideries in a historical and cultural context. All three books list stitches. But they do this to different degrees and some organize and explain the material better than others.
Ottoman Embroidery
Roderick Taylor
Interlink Books, New York City, 1993
ISBN 1-56656-134-5
Roderick Taylor, who studied at Cambridge University, is a private collector of Ottoman and Greek embroidery and has written articles on the topic for specialist textile magazines and books, including the British Museum publication 5000 Years of Textiles. This book, Ottoman Embroidery, surveys textiles in both private and museum collections.
Taylor's introductory chapter on Ottoman history and culture is a succinct 8 pages - succinct, considering that the Ottoman Empire lasted from the 15th to the 20th centuries. He does have additional information on the importance and uses of textiles in culture in other chapters.
The major portion of the book presents Ottoman textiles by type. However, the examples within each type are NOT organized by time period, which i think is a serious drawback, since there is no visual sense of how the designs developed over time, nor what constitutes the design vocabulary of specific time period.
The photographs that illustrate the book are entirely in color and very lovely. However, so few Ottoman embroideries have survived from "our" period, and there are only two pieces from the 16th century and twenty from the 17th. The author mentions the survival of a very few pieces of embroidery from the mid or late 15th century but has no photographs or descriptions, nor does he mention where they are. There are quite a few more from the 18th century, while the majority are naturally from the 19th century.
In the chapter on embroidery on clothing, Taylor makes many many errors and incorrect assumptions about Ottoman clothing through the centuries. These sorts of lapses continue in other chapters, as he makes sweeping statements about four centuries of textiles when in reality some of his remarks only apply to narrow time periods.
Additionally he is inconsistent in listing techniques involved in the pieces pictured. Since the pieces come from many different collections, he may have been forced to rely on less than complete information given him by the collectors. However, this is very frustrating for the student of embroidery.
Further, few pieces have detail shots in which to see the stitches, which i consider another drawback for the embroiderer.
Then there are two chapters on Ottoman influences in other regions. "Islamic Style" briefly covers the influences of non-Turkish embroidery from Islamic regions on the Ottoman Empire and the influence of Ottoman embroidery on these regions, especially North Africa. "Infidel Style" discusses the influence of Ottoman embroidery on non-Islamic regions within the Ottoman Empire, particularly Greece. These chapters are tantalizing but unsatisfying, however, frustratingly sketchy and inadequate. I feel that these chapters covered the topics so insufficiently, that the book might have been better either with these sections expanded or even eliminated altogether, since they are so weak.
In his chapter on "Design and Patterns" Taylor discusses designs and motifs as they change and develop over time. Too bad he didn't organize his photographs in such a way as to illustrate this.
"Materials" shows Taylor at his least trustworthy. The information on basic ground fabric wanders far afield, giving irrelevant as well as inaccurate information. When he mentions dyes, the information is not reliable.
The chapter on "Techniques" is quite frustrating, because Taylor mentions things he doesn't adequately explain. For example, there is a brief and tantalizing mention of oya, a type of needlelace used as edging on cloths and clothes, which may or may not be "SCA-period". He mentions some of the myths about oya, but doesn't begin to approach any adequate description or history. And clearly Taylor is not an embroiderer. Although he lists a large number of embroidery stitches, methods for making stitches are not included, nor does he relate specific stitches to specific pieces in the book to illustrate them.
Finally, there is a chapter on collectors and collections, which covers a history of collecting Ottoman embroideries and briefly lists museums with collections. There are no illustrations in the chapter, but it is helpful, because it can guide the interested student to places to see some of these embroideries.
The books finishes with a decent Glossary, a decent Bibliography, and a helpful Index.
This book is lovely to look at, but the information in it veers from useful to questionable. I'm not sorry i own it, because the photographs are lovely. But i would not recommend it as one's primary or sole book on the topic.
Flowers of Silk and Gold: Four Centuries of Ottoman Embroidery
Sumru Belger Krody
Merrell Publishers, London, in association with The Textile Museum, Washington DC, 2000
ISBN 1-85894-105-9
Sumru Belger Krody is now the Curator for Eastern Hemisphere Collections at The Textile Museum in Washington DC. A Turk herself, she wrote this book when she was an assistant curator, to accompany an exhibit of Ottoman embroidery exclusively from the collection of the museum.
Krody's 10-page long chapter on Ottoman history is more detailed than Taylor's. It is followed by a chapter titled "The Makers", in which Krody discusses who made the embroideries and in what situations. There is more focus and greater detail than Taylor's book, in which any such information is scattered throughout the chapters. This chapter also includes close-up photographs of some of the embroideries in the exhibit.
There follow extended chapters of the uses, motifs, and development of patterns. Because she is a textile scholar and because this is a museum publication, Krody has much more detailed and reliable information about the embroidery threads, dyes, base cloths, and metallic additions than Taylor.
She, too, has a section on embroidery stitches. In this book, some are illustrated, and she has a more detailed discussion of all the stitches, again, another advantage over Taylor.
The chapters that give cultural context are illustrated with paintings and photographs showing sources for embroidery motifs, and how the embroideries would be worn or used, and thus they are superior to Taylor's book.
The major portion of the book is the catalog of textiles. They are grouped together by types (towels, covers, napkins, etc.) and within each type they are organized by time period. This is essential, and very useful for understanding the development of the designs over time, and again, an advantage of this book over Taylor. While there are no textiles from the 16th century and only ten from the 17th, all of them are shown the full color photographs and for many there are detail shots which are very helpful to the embroiderer.
The book finishes with a very brief Glossary, brief because Krody has explained foreign terms well within the text of the book. Krody's bibliography is far more extensive than Taylor's. And there is also an Index.
While there are no 16th century pieces and a limited number from the 17th, the trustworthiness and detail of the information given make it much better than Taylor's. Krody makes up in quality what the collection may lack in quantity.
Ottoman Embroidery
Marianne Ellis and Jennifer Wearden
V&A Publications, London, distributed in North America by Harry N. Abrams, Publisher, Inc., New York City, 2001
ISBN 0-8109-6585-2
The two authors are resposible for different sections of the book. I assume, but do not know for certain, that they collaborated on the selection of embroideries and the captions. The book contains:
"Turkish Peril & Turkish Delight: the Ottoman Enigma," by Jennifer Wearden
List of Plates
The Plates
"Ottoman Embroidery Stitches & Techniques: an Appreciation," by Marianne Ellis
Glossary
Select Bibliography
This book draws exclusively on the collection of the V&A (Victoria and Albert) Museum in London. It opens with Wearden's historical and cultural introduction. Each page has two columns of text - so each page is almost two pages worth of information. Wearden's writing is well organized and easy to understand. And within this chapter there is a brief but very useful explication of Ottoman embroidery through the centuries, which makes the stylistic development clear.
The major portion of the book is the catalog of Ottoman embroidered pieces in the museum's collection. The pieces are organized by type and within type by date, like Krody's and unlike Taylor's. It contains a wide range of 16th century and early 17th century pieces, far more extensive than either of the other books in this review. This is truly a treasure trove.
There are different ways of dealing with cataloging and captions. Krody's book lists all relevant info in the caption next to the picture - dates, fibers, twist, colors, weave, embroidery techniques. Wearden and Ellis's book has a text listing for all items first, then with the photos a minimal info in the caption. The reader has to flip back to the text catalogue for more complete data for each piece. Both systems are used in scholarly books, and while I find the system used in this book a bit awkward, it isn't a real drawback.
Following the catalogue is the textile analysis written by Marianne Ellis. She not only enumerates stitches but includes clear stitch diagrams showing how to make many of them. This is invaluable for the embroiderer, since some of these stitches are particular to Turkey. One should note, however, that in the 16th century a very limited number of stitches were used. So while this section is really useful for understanding what one is seeing in the photos, many of these stitches weren't used in SCA period.
The Bibliography is unfortunately quite skimpy - only 7 sources - and includes Taylor's and Krody's books. And there's no Index. But these are minor drawbacks compared to the well organized, well presented, and useful information in other sections.
Conclusion
Anyone who loves embroidery will want to look at all three books. But for the SCA embroiderer, the books that appear to me to be most useful are, first and most useful, Ottoman Embroidery by Marianne Ellis and Jennifer Wearden for its extensive collection of 16th and early 17th century pieces and its stitch diagrams, and, second, Flowers of Silk and Gold: Four Centuries of Ottoman Embroidery by Sumru Belger Krody, for its discussion of cultural context and its detailed textile information and description of fibers and dyes.
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