Research Information System
MILLI FOLKLOR, no.144, pp.111-125, 2024 (AHCI)
Chests are a significant area of handicraft production. These items, imbued with various meanings in folk culture and acquiring special significance in daily life, serve as a medium reflecting diverse taste. Moreover, they stand out as objects that reveal the enduring common tastes of folk art, accepted through repetition over centuries. Due to being the safest place to store belongings, chests have been preferred by all segments of Ottoman society and found in every household. The word sand & imath;k (chest) has entered Turkish from Arabic. These objects, made of various types of wood such as cedar, walnut, ebony, oak, chestnut, juniper, apple, etc. have stood out both in everyday use and on special occasions. Although chests can be grouped in general as goods chests, ammunition chests and dowry chests, it is possible to increase these general groups as the methods of use change. Chests hold a significant place in folk culture, especially as indispensable objects in rituals such as marriage ceremonies. Inthis regard, dowry chests stand out. These chests are furniture in which dowries are placed and also displayed. The traces of this cultural tradition of carrying the dowry and displaying it, which is still alive in Anatolia, can be found in proverbs, idioms and folk poems (m & acirc;ni). Inthe Ottoman world, chests do not appear as items preferred only by rural people but also by the palace elite, as it is evident both through museum collections and written documents. It has been determined through the works in museum collections and written documents that the palace gentry, as well as the countryside, used chests, and their use by the courtiers was also the subject of book illustrations of the period. These illustrations portray the transportation of gifts in chests. Such illustrations are remarkable historical documents proving the use of chests during that period. Chests have been decorated by artists using different techniques and materials. In our study, we primarily focus on examining painted chests. Although we have encountered a significant number of examples during our research, we made a selection among them for analysis. While the selected examples are primarily Anatolian, a piece from the capital city has also been included and examined within the context of folk culture. The place of chests within folk culture has been addressed in various sources. However, except for a few limited examples, unfortunately, painted chests have not been thoroughly studied or no grouping work has been published regarding their themes. As part of our research, many works have been identified at antique shops and auction companies in order to access examples. These painted chests mostly consist of dowry chests. Painted chests are divided into groups based on their decorations. These include geometric motifs, floral motifs, vase arrangements, architectural depictions, landscape paintings and depictions of transportation vehicles. Determining the region and period in which the artworks were produced will form the main framework of the research. However, it is a well-known fact that during the Ottoman era, the decorative art of "bezeme" progressed in parallel across all art forms regardless of the materials used. In this context, we will also examine the common artistic world of artists working with different materials. The paintings on the examined chests within the scope of this study not only reflect the artistic understanding of the period, but also provide insights into both palace and folk art with their common repertoire and shared styles. In the course of the research, similarities have been pointed out in terms of themes and styles between chest paintings and mural paintings. The article examines the illustrated ones thematically and the art world of the period is revealed by comparing them with paintings.