DOZER MAHMUT THE JANNISARY

-DOZER MAHMUT THE JANNISARY - 

I finished this in 1 night. This sculpture is my second one. 

material : china clay

height :31 cm

 Janissaries generally, buzz cut their hair with a razor, but only a clump of hair on top of their heads. They used to grow their mustache without any intervention. I t was forbidden for the ordinary soldiers to grow beards. But just to provide respect, some of the officers would grow beard.

Janissaries, who have fighted in during a war, were called Serdengeçti, and their fees would be more than the others.

All the weapons of Dozer Mahmut are imitaions of the weapons that Sultans used, now being exhibited in Topkapı Palace, Istanbul.

The guard troops of the Sultan were called Solak Ortaları and were elected among the most strong, brave and well-proportioned handsome Jannisaries. I intentionally made Dozer Mahmut Left-Hander. Because there were 4 guards walking on the right side of the Sultan, and two of them were chosen as Left-handers. In order not to turn their backs to the Sultan they had to use their left hands while using their bows to shoot.

I used the Chintemani pattern on quiver of Dozer Mahmut. Uighurs who believed in Shamanism used this tree spot pattern as the sign of royalty. The spots reflected the three mystical powers of Shamanism. In Ottomans, the pattern was used as the artistic representation of "Masculinity", "Power" and "Force". In Ottomans, the three spotted pattern is also known as symbolizing "Union", "Peace", and "Order",

"Osmanlılar Albümü, pg.51, Osmanlı Yayınevi"