Art · Corner

Thirty-five tughras — a padishah's signature, a state's seal.

The tughra is the embodied sovereignty of an Ottoman padishah on paper. A tradition begun with Orhan Gazi, carried for six centuries in a cradling line, settles at the head of every padishah's firman, charter and coin like a private seal.

35 padishahs · eight centuries

A tughra rests on three structural lines: three cradles below (sere), three lances above (tuğ — banner or sabre), and the curling zülfe extending to the right. The padishah's name, his father's name, and the prayer "el-muzaffer dâimâ" — "ever-victorious" — are gathered within this frame.

Early tughras are spare, in a single ink. With the maturing of the classical Ottoman court, gold leaf, double contours and illumination give the form a luminous identity. Under Mahmud II the anatomy of the tughra is redrawn through the modern reform of celî sülüs; Mustafa Râkım Efendi is the architect of that reform.

When the dynasty ends, the tughra of the last padishah Mehmed VI Vahideddin becomes the signature of an age; Abdülmecid Efendi, who remained only as caliph, never received an imperial tughra.

— Plate 01 —

Orhan Gazi
1326 – 1362 Padişah
— Plate 02 —

I. Murad (Hüdâvendigâr)
1362 – 1389 Padişah
— Plate 03 —

Yıldırım Bayezid
1389 – 1402 Padişah
— Plate 04 —

I. Mehmed (Çelebi)
1413 – 1421 Padişah
— Plate 05 —

II. Murad
1421 – 1451 Padişah
— Plate 06 —

Fatih Sultan Mehmed
1451 – 1481 Padişah · Fâtih
— Plate 07 —

II. Bayezid (Velî)
1481 – 1512 Padişah
— Plate 08 —

Yavuz Sultan Selim
1512 – 1520 Padişah · Halîfe
— Plate 09 —

Kanuni Sultan Süleyman
1520 – 1566 Padişah · Kanuni
— Plate 10 —

II. Selim
1566 – 1574 Padişah
— Plate 11 —

III. Murad
1574 – 1595 Padişah
— Plate 12 —

III. Mehmed
1595 – 1603 Padişah
— Plate 13 —

I. Ahmed
1603 – 1617 Padişah
— Plate 14 —

I. Mustafa
1617 – 1618 / 1622 – 1623 Padişah
— Plate 15 —

Genç Osman (II. Osman)
1618 – 1622 Padişah
— Plate 16 —

IV. Murad
1623 – 1640 Padişah
— Plate 17 —

I. İbrahim
1640 – 1648 Padişah
— Plate 18 —

IV. Mehmed (Avcı)
1648 – 1687 Padişah
— Plate 19 —

II. Süleyman
1687 – 1691 Padişah
— Plate 20 —

II. Ahmed
1691 – 1695 Padişah
— Plate 21 —

II. Mustafa
1695 – 1703 Padişah
— Plate 22 —

III. Ahmed
1703 – 1730 Padişah
— Plate 23 —

I. Mahmud
1730 – 1754 Padişah
— Plate 24 —

III. Osman
1754 – 1757 Padişah
— Plate 25 —

III. Mustafa
1757 – 1774 Padişah
— Plate 26 —

I. Abdülhamid
1774 – 1789 Padişah
— Plate 27 —

III. Selim
1789 – 1807 Padişah
— Plate 28 —

IV. Mustafa
1807 – 1808 Padişah
— Plate 29 —

II. Mahmud
1808 – 1839 Padişah
— Plate 30 —

Sultan Abdülmecid
1839 – 1861 Padişah
— Plate 31 —

Sultan Abdülaziz
1861 – 1876 Padişah
— Plate 32 —

V. Murad
1876 Padişah
— Plate 33 —

II. Abdülhamid
1876 – 1909 Padişah · Halîfe
— Plate 34 —

V. Mehmed Reşad
1909 – 1918 Padişah
— Plate 35 —

VI. Mehmed Vahideddin
1918 – 1922 Padişah

— Seal —

El-muzaffer dâimâ — ever-victorious. A padishah’s signature is the shadow of the crown upon paper.