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HOME :
Islamic Art :
Islamic Jewelry and Amulets : Ottoman Gold Ring Featuring a Tourmaline or Peridot Seal Depicting an Eagle
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Ottoman Gold Ring Featuring a Tourmaline or Peridot Seal Depicting an Eagle - OS.148
Origin: Turkey
Circa: 15
th
Century AD
to 17
th
Century AD
Collection: Jewelry
Medium: Tourmaline/Peridot
Additional Information: AS
£4,500.00
Location: Great Britain
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| Description |
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At its height, the Ottoman Empire was one of the
world’s great powers, controlling much of
southeastern Europe, North Africa, and the
Middle East. The roots of the Ottoman Empire
can be traced back to the migration of Turkic
tribes from Central Asia into Anatolia. Expert
horsemen, fierce and highly mobile, these armies
encountered little resistance as they moved
westward and settled, eventually uniting under
the banner of the Seljuk Empire. Back in the East,
the rise of the Mongols sent progressive waves of
Turkic refugees fleeing the armies of the Khan.
The turmoil created by this influx of people, as
well as direct confrontations with the Mongols
themselves, eventually resulted in the dissolution
of the Seljuk Empires into several fractured
independent states. One of these states, ruled by
Osman I, from whom the word Ottoman is
derived, would become the Ottoman Empire.
The next few centuries were marked by a period
of expansion. The boundaries of the Empire
spread from eastern Anatolia to encompass the
Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean, including
much of the lands of the weakened Byzantine
Empire. In fact, at its height under Suleiman the
Magnificent, the territorial holdings of the
Ottoman Empire mirrored those of the
Byzantines at their apogy under Justinian the
Great nearly a millennium prior. However, it was
not until 1453 that the Ottomans finally
captured Constantinople after a long siege,
renaming it Istanbul and establishing their
capital there. While Ottoman military power was
due in large part to the famed Janissary soldiers
who were originally drawn from prisoners of war
and slaves and later from mostly Christian
youths, their economic might was derived in
large part from their control of trade routes
linking the Middle East with the West.
Over time, the Empire began to stagnate as a
series of weak Sultans were unable to compete
with the military and scientific advances
revolutionizing the West. The discovery of the
New World and the opening up of maritime trade
routes between Europe and the Americas, India,
and the Far East diluted the economic might of
the Ottomans. A series of failed reforms were
unable to reverse the decline, resulting in huge
losses of territory on all fronts. The rise of
nationalism during the 19th century further
exacerbated this problem as numerous ethnically
distinct provinces declared their independence
and the Turks themselves began to clamor for
reform. To some degree, during the late stages,
the Ottoman Empire was propped up by
European powers such as Britain and France as a
bulwark against Russian expansion towards the
Eastern Mediterranean. World War I effectively
resulted in the end of the empire as the
remaining territory of defeated Ottomans was
partitioned by the Allies. The Turkish War of
Independence erupted in 1919, culminating with
the abolition of the Sultinate in 1922 and the
declaration of the modern Republic of Turkey in
1923.
- (OS.148)
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