The exhibition opens with a brief examination of the Uyghurs, a nomadic people who first rose to prominence in the 7th century in Central Asia during the rise of the silk trade. On show are fragments of manuscripts, textiles and wall frescoes that reveal the development of the Turkic peoples and the multiplicity of religions practised – Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity and Manichaeism. The exhibition includes material discovered in caves in the Turfan region of China at the beginning of the twentieth century by the German explorer, Albert von LeCoq.
Another nomadic group from Central Asia, the Seljuks, laid the dynastic foundations of Turkic cultures that first linked Central Asia and the eastern Mediterranean. Under Tughrul Beg they began moving west in 1040. By 1055, with the successful occupation of Baghdad, they established the Great Seljuk polity, which included Iraq and Syria. The Seljuks, Sunni Muslims, adopted traditional Iranian bureaucratic institutions of government, established special schools of learning – the madrasa – and became important patrons of art and architecture. The last Great Seljuk sultan of Western Iran died in battle in 1194 when the Great Seljuks were defeated by the Mongols. A breakaway group, the Rûm Seljuks, settled in Anatolia but like the Great Seljuks, eventually succumbed to Mongol expansion during the 12th and 13th centuries.
Timur (c.1330-1405), known in the west as Tamerlane, emulated the great Mongol ruler Genghis Khan (r.1206-1227) to reach power in 1370. Although he went on to establish an enormous land based empire that encompassed Central Asia, Iran, Syria, Anatolia and Northern India, he was also a great patron of the arts and was noted for his preoccupation with history. Timur is credited with fusing the nomadic steppe culture of Central Asia with the settled culture of Iran. An entirely new visual language emerged, glorifying Timur, while articulating his public commitment to Islam. During his campaigns he gathered scholars, architects, and artists from the cities and regions he conquered.
The Ottomans under Osman originated from a small group scattered along the border of the Byzantine Empire in Anatolia where they were contemporaries of the Rûm Seljuks. After the death of Timur in 1405 the Ottomans began to slowly increase their influence under the leadership of MehmedI (r. 1403-21). Linked by political alliance rather than kinship the Ottomans exploited internal strife within the Byzantine Empire to invade Byzantium. They even laid siege to Belgrade and Vienna. In 1453 under Mehmed II – ‘The Conqueror’ – the Ottomans finally captured Constantinople, which they later renamed Istanbul, and it was here they established their imperial court. Like the Great Seljuks and Timur before them, the Ottomans were great patrons of the arts, commissioning works of art and literature of exceptional quality and beauty.
