Sources for images of men’s clothing are plentiful, women’s less so. Because the focus of my own research is women’s garb, this resource list is heavy on artists who depicted women, and leaves out dozens of excellent sources that depict only men. (For example, illustrated accounts of campaigns.) However, all the sources on this list also depict plenty of men.
Sources to Avoid
I’m putting this first because the worst sources are also the most attractive.
European Oil Paintings
There are dozens of 16th-century portraits of Turks, labeled “Suleyman” or “Roxelana” or whatever other court personage’s name was floating around Europe at the time. Most of them are copies of one another. And all of them are bullshit. The artists never went to Turkey, never saw a Turkish woman, mmmaybe saw Turkish men but never a court functionary, much less the sultan. What the artists did see was a chance to cash in. The result is imaginary portraits of people dressed in clothes that range from misunderstood and incompetently interpreted (“Suleiman’s” robes) to sheer fantasy (“Roxelana’s” hat). Avoid. Avoid avoid avoid.
Avoid oil paintings in particular because artists who actually went to Turkey worked in easily-transported watercolor, not finicky oils. Oil is a sign that the artist isn’t working from a live Turkish model. That changes by the 18th century, but for the 16th and early 17th centuries, it’s a solid rule.
Woodcuts
Woodcuts are useless as costume references. By the time a sketch became a woodcut, it passed through so many hands and underwent so much alteration that the final product was just a drawing inspired by a bad reinterpretation of a sketch of something neither artist had ever seen. On rare occasions, when the original is lost and the woodcut isn’t too badly distorted, I’ll use a woodcut or two, but it’s always best to hold out for the original source.
16th-Century Sources
This section is heavy on European artists because images of women by Turkish artists are hard to come by, except in isolated miniatures.
Melchior Lorichs, 1555-1559
Futuhat-i Cemile, by Arifi, 1566-1567. Probably shows only men.
Türkisches Kostümbuch, 1574, by Lambert de Vos.
Surname-i Hümayun, 1582, by a number of court artists, including Nakkas Osman. Probably shows only men, but contains useful references for everyday items.
Codex Vindobonensis 8615, c. 1585, by Johannes Lewenklaw.
I Turchi/Codex Vindobonensis 8626, 1586-1591, by an unknown artist attached to the retinue of Ambassador Bartolomeo von Pezzen.
MS Bodl. Or. 430, a 1588 German traveler’s notebook containing 57 watercolors. Almost impossible to find reproductions. Have a couple of Pinterest pages: [link] [link]
All Souls College, Oxford, MS 314, c. 1590
Türkisches Manierenbuch, c. 1595.
Siyar-i Nabî, 1594-1595, is an illustrated manuscript of a Turkish translation of one of the classic biographies of Muhammad. The male costumes appear to be pseudo-Arabic, but the female costumes and the domestic details are Turkish.
Books with Single Images of 16th-Century Women
Woman in Anatolia: 9000 Years of the Anatolian Woman has these hard-to-find miniatures:
- p. 260: “Lovers,” c. 1560-1570, credited to “TSMK, H.2168, f.35a”
Early 17th-Century Sources
Women’s fashion didn’t change dramatically in the first quarter of the 17th century, except for headgear. That’s good, because 16th-century sources are so thin on the ground that I’ve had to rely heavily on early 17th-century sources.
Album of Ahmed I, c. 1610
The Album of Ahmed I, dated circa 1610, is an album of miniatures by a number of artists, pasted together into a book for the pleasure of the court. The miniatures are of excellent quality, probably done by court artists or the finest professionals outside the court, and offer a glimpse of court fashion in the early days of the 17th century. Unfortunately the album is in the keeping of Topkapi Museum, and that means lousy, too-small reproductions available in too few places.
The Habits of the Grand Signor’s Court, c. 1618
Assembled by Peter Mundy in 1618, The Habits of the Grand Signor’s Court is an album of bazaar paintings.
Recueil de costumes turcs et de fleurs, c. 1625
Recueil de costumes turcs et de fleurs (Collection of Turkish costumes and flowers) is undated, but based on its similarity to the other two early 17th-century albums of bazaar paintings, I believe it’s from the same period. (It may even be from the same artist.)
Books with Single Images of Early 17th-Century Women
Woman in Anatolia: 9000 Years of the Anatolian Woman has these hard-to-find miniatures:
- p. 262: “Young Woman,” beginning of 17th century, credited to “TSMK, H.2135, f.26a”
- p. 262: “Portrait of a Court Lady,” dated c. 1648 but depicting court fashion c. 1610-1645. Credited to the Rahmi Koç Collection in Istanbul.
Post-Period Sources
The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is a historical reenactment group whose cutoff date is 1600, with some inching into the early 1600’s allowed if you can show that the source applied to pre-1600 culture. Everything after that time is “post-period,” meaning after the SCA’s period. It’s not a term used by historians.
Mid- and Late 17th-Century Sources
18th-Century Sources
Abdulcelil Levnî was an immensely skilled court painter who was active from c. 1720 until his death in 1732.
Abdullah Buharî, active c. 1720-1745, was a contemporary of Levnî whose miniatures of women offer detailed depictions of the changing fashions of the day.