Image of the Modern Ottoman Sultan

Visibility, Identity, and Modernity in the Nineteenth Century

Series: 

Author:
Alison Terndrup
Over the course of the dynamic nineteenth century, the image of the Ottoman sultan maintained a complex relationship with ideas surrounding the modernisation of the Empire. This book investigates that relationship by situating the taṣvīr-i hümāyūn (imperial portrait) within the wider program of top-down modernisation movements initiated at the end of the eighteenth century under Sultan Selim III (r. 1789–1807) and culminating in the Tanẓīmāt (Reorganization) era (1839–76). The study breaks new ground by considering the use of new image-making technologies and aesthetic trends – including oil-on-canvas paintings, lithographic prints, and photographs – primarily at the imperial court in Istanbul, but also at the provincial courts of the Ottoman Balkans.
Copyright Year:
2025
E-Book (PDF)
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-73305-3
Publication:
16 Jun 2025
Hardback
Availability:
Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-73306-0
Publication:
06 Aug 2025
Cover Image of the Modern Ottoman Sultan

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About MyBook
Alison Terndrup, Ph.D. (2021), Boston University, is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Delaware. She has also taught at Northeastern University, where she developed a course in Dynamism and Diversity in Islamic Visual Cultures.
"Focusing on newly developed strategies for disseminating the sultan’s image, Alison Terndrup offers a compelling reassessment of one of the most politically and artistically consequential moments in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Both assured and nuanced in its framing, her study situates the portraits—together with their ideological, ceremonial, and diplomatic motivations—against the backdrop of larger transnational shifts while also elucidating the specifically Ottoman concerns that shaped such imagery. This is an original, adroit approach to the thorny question of Ottoman modernity that will benefit readers from across disciplines."

Ünver Rüstem, Second Decade Society Associate Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture, Johns Hopkins University
Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
Note on Language and Transcription
Note on Web Sources
Abbreviations

Introduction
 1 Ottoman Modernisation and Global Trends
 2 Incorporating New Models: Press and Place
 3 Sultans’ Portraits in Historical Perspective
 4 Likeness, Gaze, and Power
 5 Chapter Summaries
 6 Conclusion

1 Dynamism, Diplomacy, and Distribution
 1 Paper Support and Design Dissemination
 2 Dynastic Representation during Political Volatility
 3 The “Auspicious Event” and the Sultan’s New Look
 4 Difference as Progress: “Double Mahmuds”
 5 Courtly and Commercial Exchange
 6 Conclusion

2 “Dazzlingly Brilliant”: Precious Miniatures
 1 Award Form and Its Accrual of Symbolic Value
 2 Tokens of Friendship and Loyalty in Non-Ottoman History
 3 The Mahmuds Multiply
 4 Ceremonial Bestowals: The Sultan’s Inner Circle
 5 Controversy and Permissibility
 6 Rewarding Loyalty?
 7 The Sultan: Friend of the King
 8 The Sultan: Friend of the Czar
 9 Continuities and Changes in the Mid-Century
 10 Conclusion

3 “Beautiful,” “Wonderful” Wall-Hanging Works
 1 A Report from the Barracks
 2 Ritual and Repetition in Portrait-Inauguration Ceremonies
 3 Embodiment and Image in the Early Nineteenth Century
 4 Display at Sea: Maḥmūdiye and Nuṣretiye
 5 Display at School: Maçka
 6 Display at the Dīvānḫāne
 7 Display Abroad
 8 Display in the Second Part of the Century
 9 Conclusion

4 The Nişān in Ottoman-Balkan Princely Portraits
 1 The Embedded Miniature
 2 Sartorial Symbolism and Legitimacy
 3 The Case of Serbia
 4 The Serbian Revolution, Russian Aid, and Napoleon
 5 Prince Miloš: Going Fezless
 6 The Dual Cases of Moldavia and Wallachia
 7 1848 Revolutions and the Crimean War
 8 Conclusion

5 The Sultan’s “True Likeness” in the Press
 1 Models, Copies, and Reproductions
 2 Photography, Truth, and Beauty
 3 Imperial Power on the World’s (Fair’s) Stage
 4 The Restricted Image: Abdülhamid II
 5 Hamidian Albums
 6 Conclusion

Conclusion. Legacies of Aesthetic Shifts and New Approaches

Appendix 1. Transcription of Taḳvīm-i Veḳāyiʿ No. 133

Image Credits
Bibliography
Index
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