The pipes found in The Güray Museum Collection

This thesis examines the tobacco pipes, known as "lüle" in Turkish, found in the Güray Museum Collection and dating back to the Ottoman period. Lüle, a smoking device for tobacco, has been in use from the 17th century when tobacco started to be used in Ottoman territories until the second quarter of the 20th century when cigarette smoking became widespread. Used by users from every social class and extensively utilized, tobacco and its smoking device, the lüle, made their presence felt in all areas of social life, particularly in coffeehouses. Lüles, mostly made of clay, can be found in all cities where ceramic production existed in the Ottoman Empire. Lüles, produced by numerous folk artisans in a wide geographical area ranging from the Balkans to the Arabian Peninsula, exhibit a rich typology and decorative program. The main objective of our study is to introduce the art of lüle making, which is a lost folk art, through the examination of 30 lüles in the Güray Museum collection and the identification of 7 folk artisans involved in the craft.