Silk and Propaganda — Two Ottoman Silk Flags and the Relief of Vienna, 1683

Abstract

This article focuses on two Ottoman silk flags and discusses not only their original contexts of production but also traces their biographies until their reception as booty items and their further use after the Siege of Vienna in 1683. Banners and standards were symbolically charged signs used for military organisation. The higher the rank of a flag, the more coveted it was as booty. It was not so much their material value, which was in fact negligible, but rather their symbolic worth that made them so desirable. In their new context in the hands of the enemy they could be used for propaganda purposes, as indeed they were during and after the second siege of Vienna in 1683. This article investigates the trajectories of two flags captured at the siege and a year after its end and explores the intentions behind their use for propaganda purposes. It thus attempts to untangle the political rivalries, imperial vanities and cultural misunderstandings underlying their complex biographies.

Acknowledgements

This research was part of a project carried out at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and financed by the FWF-The Austrian Science Fund: ‘Objects from the Islamic world in the Museum Collections of Vienna’, which resulted in the publication of B. Karl, Treasury-Kunstkammer-Museum (Vienna: Verl. der Österr. Akademie der Wissenshaften, 2011). The author wishes to thank Maximilien Durand, Bert Fragner, Nourane Ben Azzouna, Marie Hélène Guelton, Tadeusz Majda, Walter Öhlinger, Amanda Phillips, Laura Ugolini and the anonymous reviewers.

Notes

1 For objects travelling between East and West and object ‘biographies’, see A. Shalem, Islam Christianized: Islamic Portable Objects in the Medieval Treasuries of the Latin West (Frankfurt: P. Lang Verlag, 1988); A. Shalem, ‘The otherness in the focus of interest: or, if only the other could speak’, in C. Schmidt Arcangeli and G. Wolf eds, Islamic Artefacts in the Mediterranean World: Trade, Gift Exchange and Artistic Transfer (Venice: Marsilio, 2010), pp. 29–44; A. Appadurai ed., The Social Life of Things (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986).

2 E. Petritsch, ‘Zeremoniell bei Empfängen habsburgischer Gesandtschaften in Istanbul’, in R. Kautz, G. Rota and J. P. Niederkorn eds, Diplomatisches Zeremoniell in Europa und im Mittleren Osten in der frühen Neuzeit (Vienna: Verlag der österr. Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2010), pp. 301–22.

3 See, for example, the copper engraving, ‘Eigentliche Abcontrafactur der Türckischen Pottschafft Einzugs und Einbegleitung in Wien’ (‘Actual image of the Turkish legation’s entry and retinue in Vienna’), 21 October 1628, Collection of Regalia (Wagenburg) Inv. Z 250, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; H. Rudolph, Das Reich als Ereignis. Formen und Funktionen der Herrschaftsinszenierung bei Kaisereinzügen (Köln: Böhlau, 2010). This raises the question of whether flags were used as diplomatic gifts. This is doubtful: as an army’s insignia, flags were classic booty items and it is highly unlikely that they were presented by an Ottoman sovereign to his Habsburg counterpart as diplomatic gifts.

4 For instance, a richly ornamented Ottoman canteen, today in the armoury of the Kunsthistorische Museum in Vienna, is said to have accompanied an invitation from Sultan Murad III (1546–1595) to Emperor Rudolf II (1552–1612) to attend the festivities for his son’s circumcision. A. Grosz and B. Thomas, Katalog der Waffensammlung in der Neuen Burg (Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum, 1936), p. 92; M. Pfaffenbichler, ‘Die türkischen Waffen in der Kunstkammer Rudolfs II’, in L. Konecny ed., Rudolf II, Prague and the World (Prague: Artefactum, 1998), pp. 161–65; C. Beaufort Spontin and M. Pfaffenbichler, Meisterwerke der Hofjagd- und Rüstkammer (Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum, 2005), p. 192.

5 O. G. de Busbecq, The Turkish Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Imperial Ambassador at Constantinople, 1554–1562, trans. E. S. Forster (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1927), pp. 241–43; Petritsch, ‘Zeremoniell’, pp. 301–22.

6 P. Fodor, In Quest of the Golden Apple: Imperial Ideology, Politics, and Military Administration in the Ottoman Empire (Istanbul: Isis Press, 2000).

7 There is a large literature on this subject, with some books including rich references. See, for example, W. Schulze, Reich und Türkengefahr im späten 16. Jahrhundert. Studien zu den politischen und gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen einer äußeren Bedrohung (München: Beck, 1978); R. Neck ed., Österreich und die Osmanen (Vienna: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek / Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, 1983); E. Zöllner and K. Gutkas eds, Österreich und die Osmanen — Prinz Eugen und seine Zeit, Schriften des Instituts für Österreichkunde: 51/52 (Vienna: Österr. Bundesverlag, 1988); M. Kurz, M. Scheutz, K. Vocelka and T. Winkelbauer eds, Das Osmanische Reich und die Habsburgermonarchie (Vienna: Oldenburg Verlag, 2005). The last large-scale wars between Habsburgs and Ottomans took place between 1736–1739 and 1787–1792.

8 B. Karl, ‘The Ottoman flags of Santo Stefano in Pisa as tools of Medici dynastic propaganda’, in G. Dàvid and I. Gerelyes eds, Thirteenth International Congress for Turkish Art (Budapest: Hungarian National Museum, 2010), pp. 345–58; B. Karl, ‘Die osmanischen Fahnen von Santo Stefano in Pisa als Propagandawerkzeuge der Medici’, in M. Fahlenbock, L. Madersbacher and I. Schneider eds, Inszenierung des Sieges — Sieg der Inszenierung (Innsbruck: Studienverlag, 2011), pp. 211–24.

9 W. Hummelberger, ‘Die Türkenbeute im Historischen Museum der Stadt Wien: das 17. Jahrhundert’, Våbenhistoriske Årbøger, xv (1969), pp. 7–97.

10 F. von Leber, Wien’s kaiserliches Zeughaus. Zum ersten Male aus historisch-kritischem Gesichtspunkte betrachtet, für Alterthumsfreunde und Waffenkenner beschrieben, 2 vols (Leipzig: K. F. Koehler, 1846), especially ii.

11 Hummelberger, ‘Die Türkenbeute’; Leber, Wien’s kaiserliches Zeughaus.

12 For technical analyses of the banners, see M. van Raemdonck, ‘An Ottoman silk banner’, in M. Kiel, N. Landman and H. Theunissen eds, Proceedings of the 11th International Congress of Turkish Art (Utrecht, 2001), pp. 1–14; E. Petrasch ed., Die Karlsruher Türkenbeute (Munich: Hirmer Verlag, 1991), pp. 72–73; A. Shalem, ‘The banner of the Prophet in the Cathedral of Augsburg’, in Proceedings of the International ‘Interactions in Art’ Symposium (Ankara: Hacettepe University, 1998), pp. 216–21. In addition, Marie Hélène Guelton kindly showed the author her technical analysis of the (somewhat later) Ottoman silk flags held at the Musée des Tissus in Lyon.

13 H. Inalcik, ‘Harir’, in Encyclopedia of Islam, iii(Leiden: Brill, 1954–2005, second edition), pp. 211–18; N. Atasoy, W. Denny, L. Mackie and H. Tezcan, IPEK — The Crescent and the Rose: Imperial Ottoman Silks and Velvets (London: Azimuth, 2001), p. 159.

14 The Sura 48, Victory (1–4), states: ‘In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Surely We have given thee a manifest victory, that God may forgive thee thy former and thy latter sins, and complete His blessing upon thee, and guide thee on a straight path, and that God may help thee with mighty help. It is He who sent down the Shechina (tranquillity) into the hearts of the believers, that they might add faith to their faith — to God belong the hosts of the heavens and the earth; God is All-knowing, All-wise’. The Koran Interpreted, trans. A. J. Arberry (New York: Collier Books, 1955).

15 G. Guarnieri, Storia della Marina Stefaniana 1562–1859 (Chiavari: Tip. Valle e Devoto, 1935), p. 35. For the Ottoman flags held in Pisa, see Z. Zygulski Jr, The Ottoman Art in the Service of Empire (New York: New York University Press, 1992), pp. 33–37.

16 van Raemdonck, ‘An Ottoman silk banner’, pp. 1–14; W. Denny, ‘A group of silk Islamic banners’, The Textile Museum Journal, IV, no. 1 (1974), pp. 67–81; Atasoy, Denny, Mackie and Tezcan, IPEK, pp. 52, 58–59 and 165–71. For more detail on flags, see Zygulski Jr, The Ottoman Art, pp. 1–67. For kiswah textiles see, for example, S. Ipek, ‘Ottoman Ravza-i Mutahhara covers sent from Istanbul to Medina with the Surre processions’, Muqarnas, xxiii (2006), pp. 289–316.

17 Denny, ‘A group of silk Islamic banners’, pp. 67–81.

18 On Ottoman tents, see N. Atasoy, Otag-i Hümayun: The Ottoman Imperial Tent Complex (Istanbul: Mepa, 2000), pp. 23–41 and 274; Z. Zygulski, ‘Choragwie tureckie w Polsce na tle ogolnej problematylki przedmiotu’, Studia z dziejow Wawelu, iii (1968), pp. 363–453; S. Gasiorowski, ‘La tente orientale du Musée Czartoryski a Cracovie’, Folia Orientalia, i (1959), pp. 303–21.

19 Denny, ‘A group of silk Islamic banners’, p. 77.

20 G. Ricci, Ossessione Turca: In una Retrovia Cristiana dell’Europa Moderna (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2002), fig. 18.

21 L. F. Marsigli, Stato Militare dell’Impero Ottomano (Graz: Akademische Druck -und Verlagsanstalt, 1972, first published 1732).

22 Marsigli, Stato Militare, ii, p. 53, Table XVII.

23 Ibid., p. 51.

24 Inalcik, ‘Harir’, pp. 211–18; Atasoy, Denny, Mackie and Tezcan, IPEK, pp. 173–75.

25 Zygulski Jr, The Ottoman Art, pp. 17–32.

26 Ibid., pp. 17–24; A. H. de Groot, ‘Sancak-i Şerif’, in Encyclopedia of Islam, ix, pp. 13–15.

27 Zygulski Jr, The Ottoman Art, pp. 17–24; de Groot, ‘Sancak-i Şerif’, pp. 13–15.

28 W. Smith, Flags through the Ages and across the World (Luzern: Reich, 1975). For flags in the context of Islamic expansion, see Y. Kadoi, ‘On the Timurid flag’, in E. Herzfeld Gesellschaft ed., Beiträge zur islamischen Kunst und Archäologie, ii (Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2010), pp. 143–62. On Andalusi flags, see M. Ali de Unzaga, ‘Qur’anic inscriptions on the Penon of Las Navas de Tolosa’, in F. Suleman ed., Word of God, Art of Man — The Qur’an and its Creative Expressions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 239–70.

29 J. von Hammer-Purgstall, Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches, iii (Pest: Hartleben, 1840), p. 743. We often find flags depicted on Ottoman maps of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, illustrating their importance and omnipresence. Mostly these depictions, for instance in Suleyman’s the Magnificent Hunername, are too generalised to draw conclusions about their actual significance, usually showing no more than a crescent and a star.

30 H. Bicheno, Crescent and Cross: The Battle of Lepanto 1571 (London: Cassel, 2003), p. 258.

31 P. Brummett, ‘Turks and Christians: the iconography of possession in the depiction of the Ottoman-Venetian-Habsburg frontiers 1550–1689’, in M. Dimmock and A. Hadfield eds, The Religions of the Book: Christian Perceptions, 1400–1660 (Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), pp. 110–39.

32 A. de Carlos, ‘Armas y trofeos de Lepanto en la Real Armeria de Madrid’, Reales Sitios, viii (1971), pp. 29–36.

33 G. B. Borino, A. Galieti and G. Navone, Il Trionfo di Marc’Antonio Colonna (Roma: R. Deputazione Romana di Storia Patria, 1938).

34 Karl, ‘The Ottoman flags’, pp. 345–58; Karl, ‘Osmanische Fahnen’, pp. 211–24.

35 de Busbecq, The Turkish Letters, pp. 171–74.

36 Bicheno, Crescent and Cross, p. 285.

37 J. P. Niederkorn, ‘Zweifrontenkrieg gegen die Osmanen’, Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, civ (1996), p. 322.

38 K. Vocelka, Die politische Propaganda Kaiser Rudolfs II 1576–1612 (Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1981), pp. 275–78.

39 U. Foscolo and G. Grassi eds., Opere di Raimondo Montecuccoli (Torino: Tip. Economica, 1852), p. 388.

40 A. Luschin v. Ebengreuth, ‘Die ältesten Beschreibungen der kaiserlichen Schatzkammer zu Wien’, Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, xx, no. 2 (Vienna, 1899), p. cxciv.

41 These two flags are the subject of a forthcoming article by the author. B. Karl, ‘Die Seidenfahnen der Osmanenbeute und die Sammlungen der Habsburger’, in B. Haider-Wilson and M. Graf eds, Orient und Okzident-Begegnungen und Wahrnehmungen aus fünf Jahrhunderten (Vienna: Neue Welt Verlag, forthcoming 2015).

42 Personal communication, Prof. Markus Köhbach, Institute of Oriental Studies, University of Vienna, June 2008.

43 J. Zeller ed., Jan Sobieski — Briefe an die Königin (Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp, 1986), pp. 114–15; Neck ed., Österreich und die Osmanen, p. 144. On the war and the booty, see T. M. Barker, Doppeladler und Halbmond: Entscheidungsjahr 1983 (Vienna: Verl. Styria, 1982), pp. 317–19.

44 Hammer-Purgstall, Geschichte, p. 747; Barker, Doppeladler und Halbmond, pp. 319–20.

45 Hammer-Purgstall, Geschichte, p. 747; Zeller ed., Jan Sobieski, pp. 116–17.

46 A. Coreth, Pietas Austriaca: Österreichische Frömmigkeit im Barock (Vienna: Verl. für Geschichte und Politik, 1989).

47 Zeller ed., Jan Sobieski, pp. 121, 133–34; Barker, Doppeladler und Halbmond, pp. 319–22.

48 Zeller ed., Jan Sobieski, p. 115; J. Szablowski, Collections of the Royal Castle of Wawel (Warschau: Arkady, 1975), nos 245–48.

49 H. Schuckelt ed., Restauriert für die Zukunft — Osmanische Textilien aus der Rüstkammer Dresden (München: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2006), pp. 35–36.

50 Zeller ed., Jan Sobieski, p. 120.

51 Ibid., pp. 149–51; Barker, Doppeladler und Halbmond, pp. 322–24.

52 Ricci, Ossessione Turca, p. 101.

53 G. Moroni Romano ed., Dizionario di Erudizione Storico-Ecclesiastica ‘S’, lxx (Venice: Tip. Emiliana, 1854), p. 27; R. Waissenberger and R. Düriegl eds, Die Türken vor Wien: Europa und die Entscheidung an der Donau (Vienna: Museen der Stadt Wien, 1983), pp. 174–75.

54 Hammer-Purgstall, Geschichte, p. 777.

55 Moroni Romano ed., Dizionario, p. 26; Ali de Unzaga, ‘Qur’anic inscriptions’, p. 243.

56 Moroni Romano ed., Dizionario, pp. 24–25.

57 A. Sammer, ‘Papst Innozenz und die Heilige Liga’, in R. Waissenberger ed., Die Türken vor Wien: Europa und die Entscheidung an der Donau (Vienna: Residenz Verlag, 1982), pp. 169–73.

58 Ricci, Ossessione Turca, p. 101.

59 Erede del Benacci, printed in Rome and Bologna, Stampatore Arcivescovile, 1683, reproduced in Ricci, Ossessione Turca, fig. 11.

60 Brummett, ‘Turks and Christians’, pp. 110–39; G. Galavics, ‘Kössünk kardot az pogány ellen’. Török háborúk és képzőművészet (Budapest: Képzömüvészeti Kiadó, 1986), pp. 114–15; G. G. de’ Rossi, Teatro di Guerra conto il Turco ... (Roma: Givoanni Giacomo de’Rossi, 1687–1691).

61 Ludovico Maracci (Online). Available from: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludovico_Marracci [Accessed: 22 January 2014].

62 Ricci, Ossessione Turca, fig. 11. See above, note 14, for the English text of the Sura 48.

63 Ricci, Ossessione Turca, fig. 11.

64 The Vatican Museum informed the author that there only survives a fragment of an Ottoman banner from Lepanto. Personal communication, May 2009.

65 L. Maracci, Gründliche Verdolmetsch- und Außlegung der Sprüch, Sinnbildnuß ... so sich auff denen, von dem Erb-Feind Christlichen Namens Anno 1683 den 12. Sept., bey Entsätzung der Stadt Wienn, und Anno 1684 den 22. Julij bey Hamzabegh ... eroberten Haupt-Fahnen befinden (etc.) (Vienna: Leopold Voigt, 1684), p. A III.

66 Ottoman silk flag captured by King Jan Sobieski, Istanbul, second half of seventeenth century, before 1683; silk thread and metal thread in lampas (?) weave, 347 × 178 cm; Inv. 143, Wawel Palace Museum, Cracow.

67 Personal commnication, Nourane Ben Azzouna, Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Universität Wien, November 2013.

68 Szablowski, Collections, pp. 407–08.

69 Ibid., no. 245.

70 Ricci, Ossessione Turca, fig. 10; J. Pych, ‘Swiatynia zwyciestwa — Koleckja Broni i Historycznych Papiatek Gen. Jana Henryka Dabrowskiego’, Muzealnictwo, no. 45 (2004), pp. 46–59.

71 Leber, Wien’s kaiserliches Zeughaus, p. 391; Moroni Romano ed., Dizionario, p. 27.

72 Moroni Romano ed., Dizionario, p. 28. In addition to St Peter, captured flags were displayed in Sta Maria Maggiore and other churches in Rome.

73 Ricci, Ossessione Turca, p. 102.

74 The flag is still said to be there, although in 1798 a Polish collector is known to have bought a flag from Loreto, which was also supposed to be from Sobieski. Pych, ‘Swiatynia zwyciestwa’, pp. 46–59.

75 Shalem, ‘The banner of the Prophet’, pp. 216–20.

76 Moroni Romano ed., Dizionario, p. 27.

77 A. Bulifon ed., Descrizione dello Stendardo Regale del Gran Turco Inviato dal Re di Pollonia Giovanni III. al sommo Pontefice Innocenzio XI (Naples: Guiseppe Roselli, 1684).

78 Ibid., p. 27.

79 Ottoman silk flag, Istanbul, second half of seventeenth century, before 1684, 314 × 555 cm, Inv. I.N. 128.090, Wien Museum, Vienna. At the time of writing, the flag can only be viewed by appointment.

80 Maracci, Gründliche Verdolmetsch- und Außlegung.

81 Hummelberger, ‘Die Türkenbeute’, cat. no. 1.

82 J.-C. Feige, Adlers Krafft oder Europaeischer Heldenkern (Vienna: Joh. Kürner, 1685), pp. 353–54. Feige’s historical writings were more accurate. See, for example J.-C. Feige, Wunderbahrer Adlers-Schwung (Vienna: 1694).

83 Hammer-Purgstall, Geschichte, p. 763.

84 Karl, ‘The Ottoman flags’, pp. 345–58.

85 Feige, Wunderbahrer Adlers-Schwung, p. 142.

86 Personal communication, Marie Hélène Guelton, technical analyst CIETA, September 2012, in connection with the flags in the Musée des Tissus.

87 Stadt Wien ed., Katalog der historichen Ausstellung der Stadt Wien aus Anlass der zweiten Sacularfeier der Befreiung Wiens von den Turken vom Gemeinderathe der Reichshaupt- und Residenzstadt Wien veranstaltet (Vienna: Verlag des Gemeinderathes, 1883), p. 235.

88 B. Karl, Treasury-Kunstkammer-Museum (Vienna: Verl. der Österr. Akademie der Wissenshaften, 2011), pp. 70, 71, 77.

89 See, for example, P. Brummett, ‘The Lepanto paradigm revisited’, in A. Contadini and C. Norton eds., The Renaissance and the Ottoman World (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013), pp. 63–93.

90 Waissenberger and Düriegl eds., Die Türken vor Wien, p. 92.

91 J. Schumann, Die andere Sonne-Kaiserbild und Medienstrategien im Zeitalter Leopolds I., (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2003), pp. 179, 192, 349–50; I. Schwarcz, ‘Konfliktverhältnisse auf dem Balkan und die kaiserliche Propaganda in der zweiten Hälfte des 17. Jahrhunderts’, in Kurz, Scheutz, Vocelka and Winkelbauer eds, Das Osmanische Reich, pp. 229–38, especially p. 245.