Ottoman Turkish Robe

When the Ottoman Turks conquered the Byzantine empire in the 14th and 15th centuries, they inherited a sericulture and silkweaving industry that had been producing luxury silks for over a thousand years. The historian Procopius wrote that at the behest of Emperor Justinian (r. 527-565), monks smuggled silkworm eggs from India to Constantinople and thus fostered the creation of a native sericulture industry, yet the Chinese text Sanguozhi, compiled in 429, records that silkworms were already being raised in Byzantine Syria. At the time of the Ottoman conquest, the city of Bursa housed one of the world's largestsilk markets, and was famed for the production of sophisticated woven silks as well as embroidery with gold thread. Under Ottoman patronage, textile artists developed a distinctive style that combined elements of Turkic ornament with influences from Persia, Italy, China, and other sources.