A lion attacking a deer, stencilled scene of découpage
paper shapes
From modern Turkey
Second half of the 16th century AD
This intricately-worked scene depicts a lion pouncing on a deer,
in a landscape of flowering trees and a pond. Two birds perch in
the trees, and two ducks swim in the pool, in peaceful contrast to
the violent events beside them. Every detail of the composition has
been cut out from papers of different colours, and some elements,
such as the flowers and twigs in the trees, are amazingly
small.
Sixteenth and seventeenth-century Ottoman Turkey saw an
enthusiastic fashion for stencil-cut paper openwork, of standard
garden scenes of trees and animals, stylized compositions of
flowers and vases, or examples of fine calligraphy, either embossed
or in relief. Pages of this new artistic technique were inserted
into albums, and also used as decoration for the margins of
pages.
The device derives from paper openwork designs on luxury
bookbindings, produced from the fifteenth-century Timurid dynasty
of Iran onwards. Paper openwork replaced filigree leather as it was
cheaper and easier to use. Using very small cutting-blades, the
craftsmen cut elaborate patterns which were then gilded and pasted
onto the book cover to create an effect of filigree.
J.M. Rogers, Empire of the sultans: Ottoman (London, Nour Foundation in association with Azimuth Editions, 1996)
J.M. Rogers, Islamic art and design 1500-17 (London, The British Museum Press, 1983)