Ottoman Miniatures: The Painters of the Sultan’s Workshop and Where to See Their Work

Before photography, the Ottoman court had painters. In a workshop inside the palace, they filled books with tiny, brightly colored scenes: sultans on horseback, cities seen from the sky, armies on the march and festivals with acrobats, dancers and fireworks. Ottoman miniatures are the closest thing we have to a picture album of the empire. To see them, read where to see miniatures in Istanbul. Below, we look at the great painters, how they worked and where you can see their pages in Istanbul.

What Are Ottoman Miniatures?

A miniature is a small painting made to illustrate a book. In Turkish, the art is called nakış, and the painter a nakkaş. Unlike a European painting, a miniature has no single point of view. Instead, the painter shows the important things large and clear: a sultan bigger than his servants, a city from above and from the side at the same time. Colors were ground from minerals and plants, and gold leaf made the pages shine.

Most painters worked in the nakkaşhane, the court workshop near the Topkapı Palace. There, masters, assistants and apprentices worked side by side, so one page often carries the hands of several artists.

The Great Painters of Ottoman Miniatures

Matrakçı Nasuh

In the 16th century, Matrakçı Nasuh was a soldier, a mathematician and a master of matrak, a martial game with sticks, as well as a painter. When he followed Suleiman the Magnificent on campaign, he painted the cities along the way as bird’s-eye maps. In his book on Suleiman’s Iran campaign of 1533–1536, for example, Istanbul appears with its mosques, its walls and Galata across the water, but without a single person. So his pages are a unique record of how Ottoman cities looked. The only copy of that book belongs to the Rare Works Library of Istanbul University. To see such pages for yourself, read where to see miniatures in Istanbul.

Nakkaş Osman

Later in the same century, Nakkaş Osman led the court workshop. His team painted the Hünername, a history of the sultans in pictures, and the Surname, the book of the great festival of 1582. That festival filled the Hippodrome for weeks with parades of guilds, so the paintings show bakers, glassblowers and furriers marching past the sultan.

Levni

Finally, in the early 18th century, Levni brought a new lightness. His figures are slim and graceful, and his dancers and musicians seem to move on the page. For the festival of 1720, he painted the Surname-i Vehbi, one of the most charming books of the Tulip Era.

Where to See Ottoman Miniatures in Istanbul

The pages are fragile, so museums show them in rotation: the Topkapı Palace library holds the richest collection, and the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts on the Hippodrome, the square Nakkaş Osman painted in the 1580s, often shows them too. Our Islamic arts museum tour visits that museum, and the rest of the places to see miniatures in Istanbul are close by in the old city.

Ottoman Miniatures Today

The art never died. Today, artists in Istanbul still grind their own colors, and some teach short classes to visitors. If you want to try, see our craft workshops, and for the art of the pen, read our guide to Ottoman calligraphy. We arrange your entry to the palace and to the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, where the painted festival meets the view from the window. To see the palace with a guide, join our Topkapı Palace tour with the Harem.