A pair of Ottoman carved rosewood and ivory star panels, Turkey, first half 16th century

The style of the arabesques shows a clear departure from the earlier so-called 'Baba Nakkas Style', the distinctive Ottoman court style first created under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih (1444-1481), and further developed under his son Sultan Bayezid II (1481-1512). The arabesques as well as the overall design are less fluent and more stylized, while at the same time showing an almost mannerist magniloquence which suggests a stylistic maturity pointing to the second quarter of the sixteenth century, the peak of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent's reign (1520-1566).

A selection of dated Ottoman objects of the late fifteenth through early sixteenth century allows us to chart the evolution of this court style. Principal amongst these surviving objects are bookbindings and manuscript illumination. The genesis of the multi-pointed star motif filled with rumi arabesques can be traced to imperial bookbindings at least as early as the 1460s/70s (see, for instance, Raby, J., Turkish bookbinding in the Fifteenth Century. The Foundation of an Ottoman Court Style, London, 1993, no.20, p.150), and continues in multiple and increasingly complex variants right up to the middle of the sixteenth century (see, for instance, the carved ivory mirror made for Sultan Suleyman in 1543/44, inv. no.2/2893; published: Atil, A., The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, Washington, 1987, no.73, p.139).

A second carved ivory mirror in the Topkapi Sarayi Muzesi (inv. no.2/1804) represents a chronological intermediary, and, along with the set of belt ivory plaques also preserved in the Topkapi Sarayi Muzesi (inv. no. 2/630-633; published: Turks. A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600-1600, London, 2005, pl. 233-236, p. 280) is probably closest in date to the panels sold here.