CAPTIVATED TURKISH 16TH CENTURY TILE PANEL IN LOUVRE MUSEUM

One of the top tourist destinations in the world, in Hagia Sophia Complex, a watchful wanderer will certainly pay attention to the difference between the colors of the two tile panels at the entrance of the Sultan Selim II’s tomb. Faced at the entrance, the tile panel on the right side is colorful while the panel at the left side seems faded. The story behind this difference is very interesting.

Inside of the tomb itself was embellished with the most beautiful examples of Iznik tiles in 1500s. At the entrance, two 60-tiles twin panels was placed by the architect of the tomb.

In 1892, a French dentist then living in Istanbul, Albert Sorlin Dorigny, somehow got permission from the Sultan to restore various tiles in Istanbul. In context of this process, one of the panels was taken to France by Dorigny and he brought fakes to Istanbul. In other words, Dorigny stole original 60 tiles and replaced them with the fakes.

Now in 21th century, although truth revealed and this theft case has been enlightened, famous Louvre Museum still holds these stolen objects captivated.

We want captivated cultural objects return to their homes.

Here are some related news&Stories:

Tiles in the Sultan Tombs

The inner part of the Tomb of Sultan Selim II is decorated with the most beautiful tiles of the 16th century. “Bakara Sura” and “Ayetü’l Kürsi” is written in white polished thuluth (celi sülüs) on dark blue background on the ceramic belt entirely surrounding the tomb through the upper part of the lower window.

There are tile panes at both sides of the entrance door with purple, red, green, blue flower patterns on white background. The alcoves of the white background panes in rectangular frames are filled with red, green, and blue peonies, leafs, and flowers; the elliptic medallion with dark blue background in the middle is decorated with sprays. There are tiles with cloud patterns on red background on the articles designed on the corners.

These panels are the most beautiful examples of 16th century tiles, while the left one is the imitation of the original. It is known that, it had been taken away for restoration to France in 1895 by an ancient collector Albert Sorlin DORIGNY, a dentist in Istanbul who was the dentist of Sultan Abdülhamit II as well, however an imitationwas mounted in the place of the original which is now exhibited in “Arts of Islam” section of Louvre Museum with the inventory number of 3919/2-265.

The inner part of the Tomb of Sultan Murad III is decorated with 16th century İznik Tiles. The coral red tiles here are significant with respect to being produced by only a single generation of İznik Tiles Workshop in Ottoman era. The production secret had not been found afterwards. There is a scripture of “Mülk Sura 1-22nd Ayat” in polished thuluth (celi sülüs) calligraphy on blue background in the tomb. The surface beneath the tile belt is decorated with roses, tulips, hyacinths, gillyflowers, lily leafs and clouds in various colors.

There is an interesting tile pane in terms of color and composition outside the tomb which is creation of Architect Davud Agha. There is a rosette attracting attention mainly blue over a white background. Garnets, poniard leaves, and peony portrayals are completing this structure.

The inner part of the Tomb of Sultan Mehmed III is decorated with İznik Tiles dared to the beginning of the 17thcentury. There is scripture of “Besmele and Cum’a Sura” polished thuluth (celi sülüs) calligraphy on a blue background.

Source: Hagia Sophia Museum

Louvre puts ‘stolen’ Turkish tiles on display at Islamic Arts Gallery show

Ömer Erbil-ISTANBUL / Radikal

Tiles allegedly stolen from a Turkish mosque are on display at an exhibition at the recently opened Islamic Arts Gallery section of the Louvre Museum

Ministry officials have taken photos of the artifacts at the Louvre Museum; after analyzing the pictures, the ministry determined that the tiles were stolen from the Piyalepaşa Mosque in the 19th century.

All of the tiles that are being displayed at an exhibition at the Islamic Arts Gallery at Paris’ Louvre Museum have been stolen from Turkey, according to officials from Turkey’s Culture Ministry.

The ministry arrived at the conclusion after sending two officials to the Louvre exhibition to take surreptitious photos of the artifacts; after analyzing the pictures, the ministry determined that the tiles were stolen from the Piyalepaşa Mosque at the end of the 19th century. Other unique tiles in the exhibition include ones from the tombs of Selim II, Murat III and Eyüp Sultan and the Mahmud I Library in Turkey.

The Louvre, however, denies that the pieces belong to the Piyalepaşa Mosque.

The Piyalepaşa Mosque, which was built in 1573 in Istanbul’s Kasımpaşa neighborhood by Kaptan-ı Derya Piyale Paşa, one of the son-in-laws of Sultan Selim II, was decorated with the most beautiful tiles at the time. The tiles were particularly placed in the shrine and upper parts of the shrine walls, while there was also tiled writing between the second and third window lines of the shine. Today, none of those tiles and panels in the windows remain in the mosque.

Three panels from the Piyalepaşa Mosque were seen in the exhibition at the Louvre Islamic Arts Gallery, which opened on Sept. 22.

Muslim countries footed more than half the bill for the creation of the Islamic Arts Gallery, with Saudi Arabia donating $22 million while Morocco, Kuwait, Azerbaijan and others donated $33 million in total.

The gallery, located on an area of 2,800 square meters in the Visconti yard of the Louvre Museum, is exhibiting 3,000 pieces from the 15,000-piece Louvre collection and 3,400 pieces from the 15,000-piece Musée des Arts Décoratifs collection, as well as many artifacts from Turkey, the report from the two Culture Ministry officials said.

Lost panels

“In the publications about the lost panels of the Piyalepaşa Mosque, it is said that one of the panels is at the Berlin State Museum, the other is at the Portuguese Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Collection, three are at the Paris Louvre Museum and ParisMusée des Arts Décoratifs, one is at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the last one is at a museum in Vienna. But it is not known where the other two panels are. Our research has revealed that the exhibition at the Louvre Museum displays two tile frontons and a tile panel of the Piyalepaşa Mosque as well as a third panel. It is also revealed that a tile panel of the same mosque is also on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum [in London],” their report said.

The Louvre catalogue gives the following information about the pieces that were allegedly stolen from the Piyalepaşa Mosque: “The [pieces] were given as a gift to the museum by art historian Germain Bapst, who traveled to Istanbul on May 13, 1899. It has long been thought that the tile panels were from the Piyalepaşa Mosque. During the final restoration in the mosque, it was revealed that there was no available room to place those tiles on the mosque wall. Is it a legend that the tiles are from this mosque?”

But according to the Culture and Tourism Ministry, the tiles definitely belong to the Piyalepaşa Mosque. The ministry has now launched a scholarly study of the matter.

Günay launched a move

Convinced that the pieces were stolen, Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay has launched a move to repatriate the tiles, having previously asked the Louvre to return a tile panel that belongs to the tomb of Selim II at the Hagia Sophia Museum.

Most of the other tiles at the Louvre Museum were allegedly smuggled out of Turkey by collector Albert Sorlin Dorigny, including the tiles from the tombs of Selim II and Murat III, as well as ones from the Mahmud I Library.

Dorigny, who was a dentist in Istanbul, worked for the restoration of the library between 1894 and 1898, but is also suspected of smuggling out hundreds of tiles at the time.

Tiles that belong to the tomb of Eyüp Sultan and are currently on display at the exhibition, were allegedly smuggled abroad by French dentist Jean Bari between 1919 and 1920.

October/29/2012

Source: Hurriyet Daily News