After a long interval, Sultan Ahmed III reappears seated in the upper part of (168b). According to Vehbi, when the parade set out from Eski Saray, the sultan left Topkapı Palace and went to a building that served as the studio of the court’s artists and was located on the parade’s route. It was from here that he watched the progress of the parade. The ninth of the procession’s spare horses appears in the lower right quarter of the frame. In (169a) Prince Süleyman is all but lost in a sea of men and horses surrounding him, appearing just slightly left of the center of the frame dressed in a red kaftan with gold frogs.

1. Sultan Ahmed III: Born on 31 December 1673, Ahmed ascended the throne on 22 August 1703. The son of Mehmed IV, he was an enlightened sultan whose reign introduced a new trend of Ottoman reforms. In the wake of the mutiny that brought down İbrahim Pasha, he abdicated (1 October 1730) on condition that his life and those of his children would be spared. He withdrew into the Topkapı Harem, where he died about seven years later. He was succeeded by his nephew Mahmud (I), the son of his brother and predecessor Mustafa II, who had himself been forced to abdicate in the face of another Janissary mutiny in 1703.

2. Prince Süleyman: Born on 25 August 1710, Süleyman was 11 years old at the time of the festival. He died on 13 December 1732.

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