Unknown Maker, Persian

The Ottoman Turks and Persians shared not only religion and common ancestry but a close trading relationship in luxury textiles. Much of the extravagant silk woven in Turkish centers, exported via Italy to Europe, came from Persian producers until the mid-17th century.

Among the urban elite, both Turkish and Persian traditional ensembles comprise loose trousers (salwar) and a shirt (gomlek) worn under any number of jackets, vests, or long robes in various patterns and textures. The resulting bulky layering could suggest luxury, formality, and even proximity to the divine. Starting with the elaborate hems of the salwar and ending with the outermost robe, the harmonies and cacophonies of pattern in a single ensemble served, as in architectural ornament, as analogies for the natural world, intimations that what appears arbitrary in actuality forms part of God’s plan.