THE TUGHRA OF THE OTTOMAN SULTAN ABDULMEJID I (r. 1839 - 61)
PROPERTY OF THE LATE BRUNO CARUSO (1927 - 2018) COLLECTION
Ottoman Turkey, mid-19th century

Opaque pigments, black ink and gold on paper, the majestic tughra painted in gold in a vertical pyramidal composition, two diagonal lines rising upward from the signature's beginning and end, creating a charming triangle filled with floral sprays and polylobed arabesques with polychrome-painted floral bloom and tendrils on a cobalt blue ground to the interior, stylised saz leaves and another lobed arabesque to the exterior, on the lower left corner a single line of golden divani script, 54.5cm x 50cm.