The Determination of Ottoman era jewelry works in Erzurum and the interpretation of traditional ornament techniques in contemporary works

Civilizations represent and disseminate their cultures through ethnographic works. The examples of jewelry partaking in ethnographic works are quite important for demonstrating the culture of Anatolia. The ethnographic jewelry exhibit the characteristic features of their era in terms of materials, techniques, functions and forms. This thesis aims to examine the ethnographic jewelry works of Ottoman Era in Erzurum, to reveal their motifs and patterns through drawings, to reproduce the works depending on traditional ornament techniques, to revive ornament techniques in contemporary works by making contemporary designs and to contribute to the attempts for making new adaptations. After the nomadic Turkish tribes settled down by being converted into Islam, the effects of Islamic art have been observed in their mine art patterns. This effect was consolidated during the Seljuk period, when unique and remarkable works were produced. Just like in other artistic fields, high quality works of metal art and jewelry were produced during the Ottoman period. However, in 19th century, jewelry art was affected negatively due to the westernization movements seen in the Ottoman Empire. Therefore historical works of jewelry could not be revealed successfully and corruption in the traditional structure of these works was experienced in Erzurum. In order to overcome these problems, during this research focusing on Erzurum, 18 jewelry works have been discovered in antique dealers, jewelry stores and Oltu stone carving shops, and 68 jewelry works have been identified in Erzurum Yakutiye Ethnographic Museum and Erzurum Archaeological Museum. Consequently the observation forms of these works have been analyzed to prevent this corruption in accordance with the purpose of the research. Surely there are lots of unique works belonging to Ottoman period in many museums in Turkey. However, Erzurum Yakutiye Ethnographic Museum and Erzurum Archaeological Museum have a great importance among them because %70 of jewelry works analyzed in this thesis have been found in these museums. The examples discovered and identified in this study can be historical sources for those who deal with jewelry. According to the information obtained from the result of the study, it has been seen that various and quite important jewelry works have remained form Ottoman period. There are also many jewelry works in the museum stores as well as the works being displayed in the exhibition halls of Yakutiye Ethnographic Museum. It has been seen that many of the jewelry works examined throughout Erzurum consist of belts and buckles. According to this information it is possible to say that belts are widely used in Anatolian folk jewelry. As a result of this study, it has been observed that 19th century jewelry works constitute the majority of the examined works. Many of the works were made of silver and copper and semiprecious stones were used in ornament. The filigree, "savatlama" and "güherse" techniques were used intensively. Curved branches of plant motifs, geometric ornaments and traditional forms of tugras which represent the Ottoman State and its Sultans draw attention in jewelry. According to the information obtained from these observations and analysis, jewelry works have been classified in terms of their functions such as belts, necklaces, rings, earings, bracelets, hood and etc. Keywords: Ethnography, Handcrafts, Jewellery, Accessories, Jewelry.