27/05/2026
Gold and Arabesques
AUCTION TENTATION°4
GIQUELLO
11/06
Lot 4
RARE OTTOMAN TOMBAK HELMET
Turkey, late 16th – early 17th c.
60 000 – 80 000 €
Such Ottoman tolga helmets made in tombak were rare, as most of these armours were made of steel, a more resistant material. The use of this technique of copper covered with a thick layer of gold, strengthened the status of its owner, giving him a power and wealth in the eyes of the enemy. We can assume that tombak was reserved for high-ranking officers, who were less directly exposed to combat.
This helmet features an elaborated and delicate engraved design of friezes with palmettes and half-palmettes, mandorlas and fleurons. Across the entire lower half of the design, the motifs appear in negative against a guilloché background.
In the Oriental world, weapons are not only objects used for fighting or hunting, but also — and above all — symbols of power and social status, designed to impress far beyond their practical function as weapons or pieces of armour.
Our helmet is a beautiful example of these very finely decorated pieces of armour, closely related to three other known examples also engraved on a flat surface, and kept in the Topkapi Palace Museum.
The masterly engraved decoration, as well as the material from which it is made and its specific shape (without gadroons unlike most of the other known tombak examples), all these elements strongly suggest that it was intended for a high-ranking figure, most likely in the entourage of the Sultan.
Its exquisitely delicate decoration is strongly inspired by the drawings of the Nakkashane, the Ottoman imperial workshop. These arabesque motifs, also seen on the binding and illuminations of manuscripts, subsequently appeared on ceramics and spread throughout the decorative arts, becoming patterns infused into the entire Ottoman decorative repertoire. Thus, the mandorlas engraved on this helmet, centered with arabesques and palmettes, are reminiscent of those found in the center of the bindings of 16th-century manuscripts.
