Cushion Cover

The square cushion cover is surrounded by a double border with knots at the corners and centre of each side, worked in latticed strap couched stitch over thick threads using yellow metal-wrapped silk thread for the lattices. A similar narrow border encircles the central medallion containing a bust portrait of Mahmud II (1784-1839). As in the portrait of this sultan by Henri-Gullaume Schlesinger, the sultan is portrayed in front of a curtain. He is wearing the uniform and fez with hanging tassel that he introduced in 1829. In the background is Nusretiye Mosque, which he founded. His clothes are worked in felt appliqué and the details of his facial features are embroidered in silk thread. His epaulettes, decorations and the mosque are embroidered in silver and gold straight and notched spiral wire. The curtain is in felt with the draped folds indicated in silver thread. Inside the lower part of the border around the medallion is a cartouche with a star and crescent motif at each end, containing the Ottoman inscription El Gazi Sultan Mahmud Han-ı Sani (‘Sultan Mahmud Han the Second, the Warrior’), worked in couching with metal thread over cardboard. In the upper part of the medallion are two snakes facing one another. These probably symbolise the innovations in modern medical education introduced by Sultan Mahmud II, who founded the first modern medical school. The spaces inside the medallion and border are filled with appliqué flowers and leaves in coloured felt, with detailing in metalwrapped silk thread. The cushion cover is edged with soutache braid. The foundation is grey-blue velvet.