Tulip Period

The Tulip Period, or Tulip Era (Ottoman Turkish: لاله دورى, Turkish: Lâle Devri), is a period in Ottoman history from the Treaty of Passarowitz on 21 July 1718 to the Patrona Halil Revolt on 28 September 1730. This was a relatively peaceful period, during which the Ottoman Empire began to orient itself outwards.

The name of the period derives from the tulip craze among the Ottoman court society. Cultivating this culturally ambiguous emblem had become a celebrated practice.[1] The Tulip Period illustrated the conflicts brought by early modern consumer culture. During this period the elite and high-class society of the Ottoman period had established an immense fondness for the tulip, which were utilized in various occasions. Tulips defined nobility and privilege, both in terms of goods and leisure time.

The Tulip Period, an era of relative peace and prosperity, saw a rebirth of Ottoman art and architecture (see Tulip Period architecture). During this period, Ottoman public buildings incorporated, for the first time, elements of western European designs, leading to the foundation of Ottoman Baroque architecture in the following decade.

  1. ^ Ariel Salzmann, “The age of tulips”, 84