Tombak

Elegance with a Touch of Gold

Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat hosts the exhibition “Tombak: Elegance with a Touch of Gold”. This exhibition brings together for the first time 138 pieces among the most refined samples of Ottoman tombak art.

The exhibition will be open between 21 November 2018 - 28 April 2019 in Yapı Kredi Museum.

Yapı Kredi Museum, located in the premises of Yapı Kredi Kültür Sanat in Beyoğlu presents the exhibition “Tombak: Elegance with a Touch of Gold”, which brings together pieces of tombak (gilt copper metalwork) from its own collection, in partnership with the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, and the Military Museum and Cultural Center Command in Harbiye. It presents to the history and art lovers a forgotten aspect of Ottoman art, a secret treasure.

The exhibition presents to the visitors 138 Ottoman tombak, on loan from important Turkish museums and collections, such as Yapı Kredi Collection, Topkapı Palace Museum, Vehbi Koç Vakfı Sadberk Hanım Museum, Harbiye Military Museum and Cultural Center Command, Semahat and Nusret Arsel Collegion, Çiğdem Simavi Collection, Gökhan Turhan and Göksel Turhan Collection, A. Naim Arnas Collection, Ercan Topçu Collection and Adell Ab-ı Hayat Collection.

The exhibition will be open between 21 November 2018 - 28 April 2019. Tombak is the name given to copper pieces which were gilded to look like gold in the Ottoman era. Objects such as bowls, cup holders, pitchers, incensories, rose water flasks and candlesticks display the elegance of life at the Ottoman palace, while helmets, shields, horse frontals and harness produced for the Ottoman army attest the magnificence of  military ceremonies. The exhibition presents the most distinctive samples of this art of gilding, an Ottoman speciality, and gives an insight into the aesthetics and quality reached by the Ottoman craftsmen.
The exhibition presents thematic sections gathering pieces of tombak that were used by the Ottomans in the civil and military spheres. It was curated by Nihat Tekdemir, with Prof. Sümer Atasoy and Güner Liman as consultants, and designed by Yeşim Demir. 

The exhibition presents distinctive samples of this art which culminated in the 16th century in the Ottoman Empire but no longer exists, with objects selected from museums and private collections. It is divided in five sections -“Table and Vessel”, “Water, Cleaning and Scents”, “Tombak in Dress”, “Ottoman Golden Army”, “Source of Light”-, which aim to introduce art lovers to tombak, according to their functions.