Saz style

Saz was a style of vegetal ornament popular in Ottoman decorative arts of the 16th century CE, characterized by the use of long, feathery sawtoothed leaves and composite blossoms.

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"[1]: 103 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 courts at Tabriz".

The clarity, spontaneity and almost reckless qualities of earlier drawings gave way to a concern for finish, texture and far more balanced composition.

[5][8] Although it started during the reign of Suleiman (1520–1566), from whom Şahkulu received many favours, the saz style reached its apogee under Murad III (1574–1595), for example in an album (muraqqa) compiled for the future sultan in 1572–1573 (Österreich.

Murad III was the most important patron of the style and his death in 1595, accompanied by ongoing deterioration of court workshops in time of price revolution, resulted in its decline.

This drawing of dragon entangled in swirling foliage under attack from a lion above while assaulting a phoenix is "certainly the greatest masterpiece of the [saz] style" [ 1 ] : 110 and is attributed to Şahkulu . [ 2 ]
Tiles covering the Sünnet Odasi (Circumcision Room) in Topkapi Palace are considered to be one of the earliest examples of the saz style. Featuring birds and Chinese qilins among feathery saz leaves, lotus palmettes and rosettes they reproduce designs known from albums ( muraqqa ) and are dated to c. 1530 on stylistic and technical grounds. This close resemblance between the saz style as practiced in album painting and in ceramics could only have been achieved through the close cooperation between ceramicists and court designers (which is attested in the court account books from 1527–1528), and "painted panels betray the hand of a master, who may might well have been Şahkulu himself". [ 3 ] : 151