Synaesthetic silks: The multi-sensory experientiality of Ottoman imperial textiles

Abstract

This thesis will explore the ability of Ottoman imperial textiles to construct and manipulate space through multi-sensory perception or experience. I will analyze the ways in which the materiality of the medium shapes the use of textiles, both in architecture as well as on the body, in order to draw conclusions about their underlying cultural, political, and religious meanings. Textiles were not merely seen; they were also touched, smelled, and heard. Indeed, they covered nearly every surface in and around the palaces and imperial mosques. Moreover, they functioned as a primary tool in the regulation of sensory experience, which was integral to the construction and propagation of the sultan's imperial identity. Therefore, in order to understand the distinctly Ottoman manifestations of what Lisa Golombek called the ?draped universe of Islam,? I will employ the methodological framework of sensory anthropology, which has heretofore never been applied to the textile arts.

This thesis will explore the ability of Ottoman imperial textiles to construct and manipulate space through multi-sensory perception or experience. I will analyze the ways in which the materiality of the medium shapes the use of textiles, both in architecture as well as on the body, in order to draw conclusions about their underlying cultural, political, and religious meanings. Textiles were not merely seen; they were also touched, smelled, and heard. Indeed, they covered nearly every surface in and around the palaces and imperial mosques. Moreover, they functioned as a primary tool in the regulation of sensory experience, which was integral to the construction and propagation of the sultan?s imperial identity. Therefore, in order to understand the distinctly Ottoman manifestations of what Lisa Golombek called the ?draped universe of Islam,? I will employ the methodological framework of sensory anthropology, which has heretofore never been applied to the textile arts.