Saz style (
Turk. ''saz yolu'') is a style of vegetal ornament and associated with it art style in the 16th-century
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
.
Saz was a style of vegetal ornament popular in Ottoman decorative arts of the 16th century, characterized by the use of long, feathery sawtoothed leaves and composite blossoms.
At the same time, saz is also used as a name for the art style, in which saz ornament was basic element of the compositions.
Contrary to the better known historical style of Ottoman painting saz style served no direct illustrative purpose, therefore might be described as lyrical. Its works are fantastic and virtuosic displays of technique using the ''saz qalami'', or reed pen, that gave this group of works its name. Saz style is represented by two distinct groups of artistic products. The first "consists of album drawings, book illumination, and other works on paper; the second, derived from these paper images, includes virtually all the Ottoman decorative art forms, from bookbinding through textiles, carpets, metalwork, stonecarving, and ceramics"
Saz style "in which mythical creatures derived from Chinese or Islamic sources move through an enchanted forest made up of oversized composite blossoms and feathery leaves, has parallels in the art of the
Aqqoyunlu and
Safavid
Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often consid ...
courts at
Tabriz
Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quru River valley in Iran's historic Azerbaijan region between long ridges of vo ...
".
It is no coincidence that two named artists associated with it,
Şahkulu and
Veli Can, both comes to
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
from Tabriz, in c. 1520 and 1580 respectively. Şahkulu played great role in formation of saz style, when Veli Can takes part in its later phase. According to
Walter B. Denny
Walter Bell Denny is an American art historian and educator. A scholar of Islamic art, Denny is a University Distinguished Professor of Art History at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Car