Ziynet | Jewelry

From head to foot, a Turkish lady might wear:

Istefan | Diadem

The “crown” some women wear around the base of their hats is called istefan, from the Greek word for “diadem.”¹ Except at court, istefan were decorations, not status markers; a toddler wears one in a 1574 watercolor of her, her mother, and a servant in the street.

Sorguç | Aigrette

Saçbağı | Braid Tassel

When a woman wore her hair in a single braid down her back, she could tie a jeweled tassel of gold or silver chains, a saçbağı, to the end. (It’s pronounced “sach-baah-ih.”) The 17th-century poet Karacaoğlan hints at the evocative power of the saçbağı:

As she wakes up in the morning, praises herself
Golden saçbağı reaches her heels . . .
I will buy you a golden saçbağı
Gather it up and wrap around your slender waist . . .
Karac’oğlan praises and praises her
Her golden saçbağı reaches her heels
I will buy golden saçbağı for your braids
Attach it to your hair, hang it up from your waist, bride²

Earrings

Necklace

16th- and early 17th-century women preferred short necklaces, since their close collars didn’t allow them to display longer necklaces. (By the mid-17th century, some women had solved the problem by wearing long necklaces outside their clothes.)

Bâzubend | Armband

Bilezik | Bracelet

Anklet

 

1. Woman in Anatolia: 9000 Years of the Anatolian Woman, p. 286.
2. Translation by Eminegül Karababa. Source: Karababa, Eminegül. “Investigating early modern Ottoman consumer culture in the light of Bursa probate inventories,” Economic History Review, 65, 1 (2012), p. 211.