This item has been added to the Database within the Explore Islamic Art Collections project. Information is available in: English, Arabic.

Name of Object:

Calligraphy panel with tughra of Sultan Selim III

Location:

Bucharest, Romania

Holding Museum:

The National Museum of Art of Romania

About The National Museum of Art of Romania, Bucharest

Date of Object:

Hegira 1208 / AD 1793 – 1794

Museum Inventory Number:

12397 / 1054

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Gouache and gold on laid paper mounted on wood

Dimensions:

Length: 52.4cm, Width: 34.7cm

Period / Dynasty:

Ottoman

Provenance:

Turkey

Description:

One of the most elaborate forms of Ottoman calligraphy, the tughra was affixed to all official documents, as an emblem of the reigning sultan; it was also stamped on coins and even displayed on separate calligraphy panels. Each sultan had his own distinctive tughra, formed of his name, that of his father, and the phrase muzaffar da’ima (the eternally victorious). The present panel features the tughra of Sultan Selim III (1789-1807), son of Sultan Mustafa III (1757-1774), painted in gold. On the right, vegetal motifs and a lotus flower are painted in a mandorla-shaped cartouche surrounded with saz leaves. In the upper left corner, a roughly triangular cartouche bordered on one side by a saz leaf. The calligraphic cartouche in the lower left corner contains the signature of the calligrapher Muhammad Sadiq (d. 1836) and the date.

How date and origin were established:

The panel is dated

How Object was obtained:

Transferred from the Library of the Romanian Academy in 1949.

How provenance was established:

Tughra

Selected bibliography:

Dunca, M., Scrierea în arta islamică, Bucharest: National Museum of Art of Romania, 2000: 44, cat. no. 15.

Citation of this web page:

Mircea Dunca "Calligraphy panel with tughra of Sultan Selim III" in Explore Islamic Art Collections. Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;EPM;rm;Mus21;19;en

Prepared by: Mircea Dunca

MWNF Working Number: RO1 19