TURQUERIES: FASHION, FREEDOM, AND THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN EAST AND

WEST

Throughout history, art has very often functioned as a powerful tool of cultural expression, conveying
political, social and religious messages. In the context of international relations and conflicts between
nations, the use of images and symbols has played a significant role in shaping public perceptions
and supporting or undermining intercultural relations.

The Ottoman Empire, with its vast geographical expanse and the ethnic and religious diversity of its
populations, has been an object of interest and, at times, hostility from other nations. Through the
analysis of visual representations and symbols used in works of art, we will seek to understand how
iconography has been employed to construct and perpetuate stereotypes, creating a visual narrative
that often contributed to justifying conflicts or consolidating ethnocentric views.

The journey of the representation of the Ottoman people, from the threat of Lepanto to the 18th
century, constitutes a voyage through the complex and ever-changing dynamics of intercultural
relations. From a symbol of fear and hostility to an object of admiration, the metamorphosis of the
Ottoman image reflects profound political, social, and cultural changes that have shaped Western
perception over the centuries.

The epic clash of Lepanto in 1571 left a lasting imprint on the European collective imagination. The
Ottoman people had been portrayed as an imminent threat, evoking deep fears and fueling a narrative
characterized by negative stereotypes and demonized representations. However, over time, the
geopolitical context has undergone significant changes.

The 18th century saw a gradual transformation in the Western attitude towards the Ottoman Empire.
The interest in Eastern culture, exoticism, and the growing awareness of cultural nuances contributed
to reshaping the image of the Ottoman people. Artists, writers, and European travelers began to
observe the East with more open eyes, highlighting the richness of its history, art, and civilization.

As the years went by, this model of iconography began to disappear, giving way to ambivalent images
of the Ottoman Empire, of fascination and disgust. Thus begins a development of the imagination
that still dominates our view of the East today. It marks the beginning of a new discourse on
Orientalism that will lead to the emergence of the phenomenon of Turqueries.

1- TURQUERIES

All things that became fashionable in imitation of the art and culture of the Ottoman Empire from the
second half of the 17th century are defined as "Turquerie." This phenomenon became increasingly
popular through the development of trade routes and the rise of diplomatic relations between the
Ottomans and European nations.

During this period, the Turkish people were ceasing to be considered a threat, despite the situation of
the Turkish Wars in the Balkans and the victory of Polish King Jan III Sobieski in Vienna in 1683.
Some examples of this change can be found precisely in the Austro-Hungarian environment.

The painting by Jacob van Schluppen, Prince Eugene of Savoy, depicts the prince as the victor of the
Battle of Belgrade in 17171. His white horse charges over the defeated Ottomans. Fame, Victory, and
Clio float above him and interpret victory as the immutable law of redemptive history. From an
iconographic perspective, this painting is considered a conventional Allegory of Victory. Ottomans
and Tartars defeated, situated below, are not depicted as shadowy figures, but are rich in details both
in their weapons and their costumes, as if to explicitly convey an interest in this "other" culture that
will always be considered inferior to the European one, yet to which a certain dignity belongs.

Another episode of particular importance takes place in September 1717 in Dresden. The marriage of
Frederick Augustus II with Maria Josepha of Austria is celebrated. The celebrations included three
hundred men in Janissary uniforms, Italian acrobats tasked with wrapping their turbans, servants busy
preparing coffee and arranging crescent-shaped tables for the banquet, and finally artisans who were
preparing a wax statue depicting a sultan 2.

Unlike the previous case, this celebration can be considered an event that puts an end to the negative
perception of the Ottoman people. It is no longer a purely political representation where the great
European leaders must show their superiority, but in this case, the other culture is admired as a model
of a new aesthetic sensibility.

Images and written accounts by the Ottomans proliferated in Europe starting from 1650. As early as
the 16th century, costume books depicting the clothing, cities, and customs of European and world
peoples were widespread. The genre made its debut in Ottoman lands towards the end of the 16th
century. These publications went on to supplement the growing number of publications about the
Turkish Empire for the European audience.

Jean-Baptiste Vanmour (1671-1737), a Flemish painter who worked for various ambassadors in
Istanbul, created an album of Ottoman costumes that is among the most famous of the period, used
as a model by many European artists who never managed to go to Turkey. The volume was titled

1
Theilig S., The Change of Imaging the Ottomans in the Context of the Turkish Wars from the 16th to 18th Century, in
“Guerres et guerriers dans l’iconographie et les arts plastiques”, 2011, p. 64.
2
Bevilacqua A. e Pfeifer H., Turquerie: culture in motion, 1650-1750, in “Past & Present”, 2013, p. 75.
Recueil de cent estampes représentant différentes nations du Levant, published in Paris in 17143. His
images, created for the French ambassador, the Marquis Charles de Ferriol, have been celebrated as
the most important source for the creation of images based on Ottoman culture. To ensure that the
depiction was as realistic as possible, he collaborated with local artists.

At the court of Louis XV, in 1721, there was an important visit from the ambassador of Sultan Ahmed
III, Mehemet Effendi. This fueled the curiosity of the entire French populace, and the enticing
descriptions from the popular collection of One Thousand and One Nights piqued the imagination of
a society increasingly weary of labels 4. The success of Turkish items, in fact, lay precisely in their
function as a liberating cultural vocabulary 5. Through decoration, music, and fashion, Europeans had
the opportunity to explore ways of being that were not so easily available in their own culture.

The highest nobility saw in Turkish customs a way to showcase their elite status in society, their open-
mindedness, and their strong interest in the surrounding world.

One of the most explicit examples of this model is represented by the painting by Carle Van Loo,
Sultana Drinking Coffee6. The image shows Madame Pompadour (Jeanne Antoinette Poisson,
Marquise de Pompadour, 1721–1764, mistress of Louis XV) dressed as a "Sultana" in (partially)
Ottoman costume on a sofa; the Black maidservant is handing her coffee, the quintessential turkish
beverage.

In 18th century France, a new style of bed was called lit à la turque (Turkish bed) due to its two
sliding ends. This name does not refer to any specific source of Turkish design but reflects the 18th-
century fascination with everything exotic and unusual coming from foreign countries. Turkey, China,
and Egypt were among the places that inspired artisans in creating romantic and luxurious interiors.
The intention was not to accurately recreate foreign objects but to convey a sense of exotic opulence,
even just through the name attributed to an object. The fashion for all these "turkish" things reached
its peak in the mid-1700s, when Madame de Pompadour had a bedroom that was known as chambre
à la turque (turkish bedroom).

However, it would have been very difficult to lie on a lit à la turque with a corset, a symbol of 18th-
century attire. It is therefore not surprising that the flourishing fashion of déshabillé, the informal yet
luxurious attire closely associated with Ottoman clothing, came to accompany the new interiors.
Starting from the late 17th century, Ottoman clothing began to appear in a new type of portrait where

3
Inal O., Women’s Fashions in Transition: Ottoman Borderlands and the Anglo-Ottoman Exchange of Costumes, in
“Journal of World History”, 2011, 22, 2, pp. 243-272.
4
The Metropolitan Museum Art Bullet, Turquerie, 1968, 26, pp. 225-239.
5
Bevilacqua A. e Pfeifer H., Turquerie: culture in motion, 1650-1750, in “Past & Present”, 2013, p. 101.
6
Stein P., Amédée Van Loo’s Costum turc: The French Sultana, in “The Art Bulletin”, 1996, 78, 3, pp. 417-438.
the subjects wore looser and less constricting garments than court attire. The European Turkish outfit
still had to be a symbol of wealth and luxury, and to create it, sumptuous fabrics, furs for the finishes,
elaborate belts, and finally turbans or aigrettes were used7.

This great change in fashion was not limited to the environments of the French court. In England, a
completely different atmosphere was in the air, where the rediscovery of Ottoman fashion and
customs became a pretext for reflecting on the internal cultural situation.

The one who initiated these reflections was Lady Mary Wortley Montagu 8, an English noblewoman,
wife of the ambassador Edward Wortley Montagu, with whom she undertook a journey to Turkey
between 1716 and 1718. The story of this journey and her observations on Eastern life is recounted
in the Turkish Embassy Letters, a series of letters rich in graphic descriptions, revised throughout her
life and published posthumously in 1763. These letters are considered a source of inspiration for later
female travelers and writers, as well as for much of Orientalist art. William Hogarth was one of them.

Lady Montagu describes her encounter with Turkish culture as a radically decentering experience.
Montagu's letters can be read as an ethnography of Turkish women's culture and had a profound
impact on the exchange of customs with European women.

In her letters, she wrote about how different fashion was while she was traveling to Turkey. In a letter,
she wrote:

« I never saw in my life, so many fine heads of hair. I have counted 110 of these tresses of one lady's,
all natural, but it must be owned that every beauty is more common here than with us. 'Tis surprising to
see a young woman that is not very handsome. They have naturally the most beautiful complexions in
the world and generally large black eyes. I can assure you with great truth, that the Court of England
(though I believe it the fairest in Christendom) cannot show so many beauties as are under our protection
here. They generally shape their eye-brows, and the Greeks and Turks have the custom of putting round
their eyes on the inside a black tincture that, at a distance, or by candlelight, adds very much to the
blackness of them. I fancy many of our ladies would be overjoyed to know this secret, but 'tis too visible
by day. They dye their nails a rose-colour.».9

Furthermore, she recorded her experiences in a Turkish bath (haram), which are reserved for both
enjoyment and health. She wrote:

«I was in my travelling habit, which is a riding dress, and certainly appeared very extraordinary to them,
yet there was not one of them that showed the least surprise or impertinent curiosity, but received me

7
Bevilacqua A. e Pfeifer H., Turquerie: culture in motion, 1650-1750, in “Past & Present”, 2013, p. 105.
8
Inal O., Women’s Fashions in Transition: Ottoman Borderlands and the Anglo-Ottoman Exchange of Costumes, in
“Journal of World History”, 2011, 22, 2, pp. 243-272.
9
Montagu M. W., The Turkish Embassy Letters, curated by T. Heffernan e D. O’Quinn, 2012., letter 30.
 with all the obliging civility possible. I know no European court where the ladies would have behaved
themselves in so polite a manner to such a stranger. I believe in the whole there were two hundred
women, and yet none of those disdainful smiles, or satiric whispers that never fail in our assemblies,
when anybody appears that is not dressed exactly in the fashion. They repeated over and over to me,
Uzelle, pek uzelle, which is nothing but Charming, very charming».10

Lady Mary wrote about the misconceptions that previous travelers, particularly male travelers, had
recorded about religion, traditions, and the treatment of women in the Ottoman Empire. Her gender
and class status provided her access to female spaces that were closed to men. Her personal
interactions with Ottoman women allowed her to provide, in her opinion, a more accurate account of
Turkish women, their clothing, habits, traditions, limitations, and freedoms, sometimes aiming to be
more a critique of the West than a praise of the East.

In her letters, she proposes a detailed analysis of how the freedom of Ottoman women was far from
the rights enjoyed by European women.

Many travel writers following Lady Mary, including Lady Craven in A Journey Through the Crimea
to Constantinople (1789), spoke about the concept of "freedom" of Turkish women mainly because
Muslim women had the right to own property 11. The Quran established women's right to mahr, which
is the allocation of a gift or sum of money given to the bride at the time of marriage, unlike the English
dowry which was assigned to the husband. British women were subject to the doctrine of "coverture,"
in which wives and all their property were under the control of their husbands. To her future husband's
questions about the dowry, Lady Mary replied: "People of my kind are sold as slaves, and I cannot
say what price my Master will set on me." 12

The analysis of turquerie as an artistic and cultural category reveals a complex and often contradictory
landscape, in which stereotypes, exotic curiosities, and fanciful representations of the Ottoman people
intertwine. It is important to pay attention to how perspectives change from nation to nation, revealing
how these images have been shaped by the Western mind and used as tools to communicate not only
cultural and geographical aspects or for pure aesthetic pleasure, but also to reflect on the political and
social dynamics of the time.

However, it is essential to recognize the fluidity and mutability of these representations over time.
From exotic curiosities to propaganda art, "Turqueries" have undergone significant evolutions,

10
Montagu M. W., The Turkish Embassy Letters, curated by T. Heffernan e D. O’Quinn, 2012., letter 27.
11
Craven E., A Journey Through the Crimea to Constantinople: In a Series of Letters from the Right Honourable
Elizabeth Lady Craven, to His Serene Highness the Margrave of Brandebourg, Anspach, and Bareith. Written in the
Year MDCCLXXXVI, London, 1786.
12
Halsband R., Life of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Oxford 1956.
reflecting the changes in relations between Western powers and the Ottoman Empire. Moreover, the
complexity of this theme draws attention to the diversity of individual and collective responses,
showing how the same representation could be perceived in divergent ways.

2- CONCLUSIONS

The metamorphosis of the Ottoman image from threatening to admired testifies to the fluidity of
cultural perceptions and the ability of art and culture to transform the "enemy" into an object of
fascination. This change not only reflects the complexity of intercultural relations but also the human
capacity to overcome entrenched stereotypes and embrace diversity.

A fascinating chapter in the history of costume development is represented by the phenomenon of

Turqueries, which reflects the interaction between the East and West as a means of social change as
well as a cultural interchange. 18th-century European culture encounters a new visual language that
transcends the constraints imposed by conventional conventions through the adoption of clothing
inspired by Ottoman fashion. Particularly for women, who feel this style to be a more genuine and
organic form of expression, light fabrics, flowing lines, and less restrictive forms become symbols of
a newfound freedom.

Along with influencing fashion and interior design, the Turkish influences brought a model of cultural
and physical independence with their unique charm and capacity to reimagine the Eastern
imagination. The transition from stiff corsets and overly structured dresses to softer clothing with
Oriental accents signaled the start of a path toward female emancipation in which the body once more
takes center stage, unrestricted and symbolically open to new possibilities.

In this way, turqueries transcends a simple preference for the exotic and serves as a vehicle for cultural
renewal, foreshadowing upcoming fashion revolutions and illustrating how tolerance for the "other"
can lead to the development of new ideas about identity and freedom in addition to new aesthetic
styles.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

-Bevilacqua A. e Pfeifer H., Turquerie: culture in motion, 1650-1750, in “Past & Present”, 2013, pp.
75-118.
-Craven E., A Journey Through the Crimea to Constantinople: In a Series of Letters from the Right
Honourable Elizabeth Lady Craven, to His Serene Highness the Margrave of Brandebourg, Anspach,
and Bareith. Written in the Year MDCCLXXXVI, Londra 1786.

-Halsband R., Life of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Oxford 1956.

-Inal O., Women’s Fashions in Transition: Ottoman Borderlands and the Anglo-Ottoman Exchange
of Costumes, in “Journal of World History”, 2011, 22, 2, pp. 243-272.

-The Metropolitan Museum Art Bullet, Turquerie, 1968, 26, pp. 225-239.

-Meyer E. R., Turquerie and Eighteenth Century Music, in “Eighteenth-Century Studies”, 1974, 7, 4,
pp. 474-488.

-Montagu M. W., The Turkish Embassy Letters, a cura di T. Heffernan e D. O’Quinn, 2012.

-Stein P., Amédée Van Loo’s Costum turc: The French Sultana, in “The Art Bulletin”, 1996, 78, 3, pp.
417-438.

-Theilig S., The Change of Imaging the Ottomans in the Context of the Turkish Wars from the 16th to
18th Century, in “Guerres et guerriers dans l’iconographie et les arts plastiques”, 2011, pp. 61-68.
IMAGES

1- Jacob van Schluppen, Prinz Eugen von Savoyen, 1717, Berlino, Deutsches Historisches Museum.

2- Jean Baptiste Vanmour, Grand Vizier Nevşehirli Damat Ĭbrahim Pasa, 1727-1730, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum.
3- Almanacco per l'anno 1722, L'audiance donnée par Sa Majesté à Mehemet Effendy ambassadeur du
Grand Sultan Achmet, en 1721.

4- Carle Van Loo, Sultana che beve un caffè, 1747, Parigi, Musée des arts décoratifs.

5- Jean-Baptiste Tilliard (attribuito), Lit à la turque, 1750-1760, Los Angeles, Getty Center, Museum South
Pavilion.
6- Jean-Etienne Liotard, Maria Adelaide di Francia vestita alla turca, 1753, Firenze, Galleria degli Uffizi.

7- Charles Jervas, Mary Wortley Montagu, post 1716.

8- William Hogarth, Women dancing in the Harem, dai “Viaggi di Sr A. de la Motraye in Europa, Asia e Africa”,
1723.