The parade of the guildsmen: Tentmakers, shoemakers, grocers, fruit-dealers, turban-makers, quilt-makers, and fabric-merchants

 

108a

 

107b

The guild parades recommenced on the eighth day after the break for the Golden Horn and Okmeydanı spectacles. According to Vehbi, the guilds that marched on this day were those of the tentmakers, shoemakers, grocers, fruit-dealers, turban-makers, skullcap-makers, quilt-makers, fabric-merchants, slave-merchants, and cotton/wool fluffers. Levni does not depict them all in these two frames. In (107b) we see the sultan (who is out of his observation tower again) and grand vizier and their retinues. Marching in the foreground is the Tentmakers guild, whose members are carrying a tent like an awning over a comely youth. The guild’s leaders and a few of its masters looking in the opposite direction behind the awning have raised their hands as they offer a benediction to the sultan. In the lower left corner is an elaborately decorated tent fashioned from rich fabrics that will be the guild’s.gift to the sultan. The tent was carried by the guildsmen in the procession fully pitched with a youth sitting inside. In (108a) we see the yellow-garbed dummy fashioned by the two shoemakers’ guilds followed by examples of their wares carried on silver trays. These are followed by a shop mounted on a cart in which a youth pretends to sell footwear, examples of which are suspended from the eaves. Next come the grocers, fruit-dealers, turban-makers (whose shop cannot be seen, having been cut off by the right edge of the frame), quilt-makers, and fabric-merchants (who came with two shops). All the contingents march with musicians and dancers and they display examples of their work and their.gifts for the sultan.


Images index

Return to Surname-i Vehbi index

Return to Kanyak's Doghouse