I went to the Metroplotian Museum of Art this past week and noticed some artwork that greatly related to our class discussion of Suleyman the Magnificent.
At the museum, I was walking through the exhibits and saw some amazing work. One piece that really interested me was the image I attached to this post. From the card I read at the site, it is a war helmet made for the sultan. That sultan was Suleyman. It is beautiful and well crafted for a time that is not as advanced as today with limited resources and tools. However, what I learned at the museum that Suleyman's reign was often called a "Golden Age". While walking through the rest of the room that held art from his reign, it is clear that his reign was a Golden Age. Another piece that was beautiful it the plate I also attached to this post. This piece not only shows the Ottoman Empire's increasing wealth and status but how they achieved that status. The plate looks very similar to the plates from China. The oriental style of the Ottomans suggest that a lot of their influences were caused by cultural diffusion and military campaigns through neighboring countries and empires. This makes clear that in order to have a successful empire, it is important to create forgein relations with neighboring empires which is exactly what Suleyman did, making him "magnificent" and creating a Golden Age for the Ottoman Empire during his rule.
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ReplyDeleteWhere was the Museum? In the city? I'd like to check it out. It sounds very interesting like seeing things like the helmet and the plate brought what we're learning in class to life. Right after I read your post I searched for some more things that was created back then, some more of their artistic and architectural abilities. This reminds me of for the snow day assignment we watched the videos on the architecture of the buildings created. They were beautiful! Clever too, like for instance the music room had holes all through out because it increased to value of the acoustics from either the instruments or the vocals.
ReplyDeleteAlso i find it interesting that it was called the Golden Age. I remember learning about the Golden Age when in high school although I dont remember going into much detail. Honestly I dont remember if its the same Golden Age although I do remember that it was just stressed to know that there was a period known as the Golden Age. It's very cool that we're going into so much depth of this time period and this culture because I dont know anything about it.
It's interesting that the museum characterized the Suleyman era of the Ottoman Empire as the "Golden Age" of the society, simply because the empire had accomplished great things before he came to power, and existed for so much longer after he died. I'd totally agree with that statement, but I found it intriguing that a Golden Age of a culture is one marked by military conquests, particularly because such expansive military conquests weren't nearly as prevalent after Suleyman's death in 1566. Just by these two pieces of art anybody can see how influential his reign was to his empire.
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