The Mystery of the Turkish Map: Solved

  

As an amateur map collector, I find that sometimes my acquisitions can be hit or miss. Sometimes I buy something and it turns out I make a great purchase from someone who may not realize exactly how good an item they're selling, and sometimes I pay too much for something I think is beautiful, but is not really an item of any value other than the aesthetic.

I wrote here about my second ever map purchase. It was this beauty:

I explained a bit about how I came to doubt its authenticity as an antique, and how I could not find anything else like it anywhere. It turns out, not only was I right to doubt it's age, but I should have questioned whether or not it was truly a map, or meant as one.

When I originally posted about this map, I tweeted about it to my followers and hoped that someone could have some insight for me. I dug a bit deeper after a commentor on the blog suggested I try reaching out to Turkish diplomatic missions, which I did. This turned out to be an excellent suggestion.

In a triumph of digital diplomacy, the Turkish Embassy in Dublin responded relativley quickly. I'll reproduce their helpful reply.

1. Dear Mr. Cory, It’s a map of Istanbul & theBosphorus with a portrait of what looks like Sultan Mehmed IV(1648-1687) the letters are what seem to be or resemble old Ottoman Turkish alphabet but a colleague who is familiar with the old alphabet said some letters didn’t+

— TurkishEmbassyDublin (@TC_Dublin) January 10, 2018

2.+look accurate, so hard to tell details. Perhaps the admins of these2 sites may be able to help as they have many similar images. https://t.co/kKBsFHDrIa & https://t.co/50rsnRYywk

— TurkishEmbassyDublin (@TC_Dublin) January 10, 2018

So right away, I received more information on my map than I had ever had. I knew the name of the man in the image on the map and learned that not only might the map be new, but that the language may not be right. I reached out to the two twitter accounts the Embassy suggested and heard back, fairly quickly from the very friendly person behind @JourneyHistory.

He responded that the map, wasn't really a map, was a modern miniature painting, made to look like it was in the Ottoman style, and on paper that was probably distressed, to make it look old. He sent me a link to dozens of images, none of which are maps, but many of which have a strong stylistic resemblance to my piece. 

For example:



What's more, I was told that the writing on the artwork may actually be complete gibberish. Essentially, the equivalent of mashing the keys on your keyboard and putting whatever comes out into fancy calligraphy. His theory being that not many people read that language any longer, and that the artists making these images probably even less so.

Another helpful commentor on my blog, the helpful and friendly Halim, suggested that it's possible that the writing on the map is another language transliterated, maybe Italian or Ladino. Ladino, or Judaeo-Spanish would be especially interesting, given that it was a language spoken primarily by Jews in the Ottoman Empire. A group that would not ever have represented a majority, and also strange for a modern artist to use.

So, thanks to this blog, the powers of the internet and what I believe is a human inclination to bend towards kindness and helpfulness, I have an answer to my own, personal map mystery: My map is not a map, it's basically just a painting, and it is not old, nor is the paper it's on likely to be. That said, it remains on my wall because it's beautiful, and it now comes with an even better story.

My Mystery Map: Istanbul

The second map I ever bought was in Istanbul, but it's the map I know the least about, and the more I read and hear about it, the more I'm convinced that it's more of a pretty work of art than it is an actual antique map. In fact, after extensive searching, I can't find anything that even looks like it online.

When buying the map, I faced a real language barrier, but it was from what appeared to be a reputable shop that had a small number of other, somewhat similar maps. What I understood from the strained conversation was that this was a page from an antique Ottoman atlas showing a map of Istanbul. I'm pretty sure now that this was not correct. Take a look and I'll try to break it down.

So above is the front of the map I bought and to the right is the reverse of the page. This map is framed and hanging on my wall, so I can't handle it, but my recollection was that the paper seemed authentic, or at the very least, not modern. Also, I cannot read the writing on this map, but it seems clear to me that it was not printed and was probably done by hand. I believe that it's the Ottoman Turkish Alphabet, which borrows from Arabic and Persian.

There are some clues about the map, but I have a hard time deciphering them. For example, I can't figure out who the hirsute chap in the photo is. I would guess he's supposed to be an Ottoman Sultan, but maybe he's a governor of the city, or some other important person.

There's also the banner at the top-center of the page. From what I can tell from searching here, it looks like an Ottoman banner that may have been used in the 18th century, but this is anything but certain.

Then there's the cityscape itself. I'm not sure what vantage this view was taken from. As best as I can tell from playing around with google streets view from Istanbul, this image is meant to be taken from the Bospherous, looking south from Galata. Somewhere around the area marked in blue.

This brings me up against a few problems. The mosque on the right hand side has three minarets and the one on the left has four. I'm pretty sure, just from the drawing, that the mosque with three minarets is meant to be the Hagia Sophia. That's simply what it looks like. The problem is, the actual Hagia Sophia has four minarets. The other mosque, which is blue in colour, could be meant to be the Blue Mosque, but that one has six minarets. Even playing around on google streets view, I can't figure out what possible vantage point would give the viewer a sight of two mosques, on on the right with three minarets and one nearby on the left with four.


I brought this map for an informal appraisal to a shop in Washington, D.C. where I used to live. The appraiser agreed that the paper it was on was old, and was less concerned than I was that the colours of the map were too vibrant to be old. Her view, however, was that the drawings themselves looked modern, that they do not reflect the way something may have been drawn long ago and that the painting of the map was probably quite new. She may be on to something. A close look at the map (not something I can show in a photo) reveals that there is text behind it, in the same script as the text on the reverse.

I'd love to know more about this map if there are any knowledgeable or sleuthy people out there who can help (or anyone who can read the Turkish).

In the meantime, despite it probably not actually being an antique map, it's still a beautiful bit of work and I'll happily keep it on my wall.