Mehmet IV

This replica from the 17th century exhibited in your room is of one of the 87 talismanic shirts from the Collection of Sultan’s Clothing at Topkapi Palace and it is considered to have belonged to Mehmet IV according to the prayers, motives and meanings of the talisman on the shirt and therefore was adorned with one of his poems…

May this Talisman be your guardian…

He was the nineteenth Sultan of Ottoman Empire… The longest reigning Ottoman Emperor after Suleiman the Magnificent….

Sultan Mehmet IV was born on January 2, 1642 in Istanbul to Sultan Ibrahim I and Turhan Hatice Sultan.

Sultan Mehmet IV of a Russian descent mother was of medium-height, fair skinned and had a tanned face. As he would often go horseback riding for long while, he had a stooping posture. His mother raised him perfectly. He was very well educated; tutored in up-to-date sciences. He became the Sultan of the Empire when he was only sixteen after the timeless death of his father.

He was a hunting and literature enthusiast; because of his interest in hunting, he was also called Mehmet the Hunter.

The responsibility Sultan Mehmet took at such an early age was massive. He was now the person in charge of both administrative and military affairs. His mother Turhan Hatice Sultan was trying to protect him as much as she could. His biggest helper was the Grand Vizier Koprulu Mehmet Pasha who became his biggest supporter during when Mehmet IV was making new important changes.

A shirt needed to be tailored to protect him from any conspiracies, calamities and evil, a shield to make him invincible during his early journey as the Sultan… The Grand Vizier ordered the Head Augur the necessary. Yet again, preparations of a talismanic shirt for an Ottoman emperor started. The propitious moment was calculated; days, weeks, months passed; the cloths were weaved; calligraphers were handed their pens to engrave prayers on the cloths.

The shirt is made of thick white cotton. There are two circular badges divided into twelve segments on front shoulders. There are two semicircles in tangent with the badges in upper part of which are there writings and below part of which are there golden shoe patterns. The shirt is, like many other shirts, ornamented with red and black coloured prayers and numbers that carry different meanings; every prayer and number are meant to protect the owner of the shirt from all sorts of evil and calamities.

The reign of Sultan Mehmet IV witnessed numerous architectural work including but not limited to the completion of New Mosque and madrasah in Eminonu, restoration of Rumeli and Anatolian Fortresses, construction of Spice Bazaar. His interest in arts and specially in poetry led him leave many exquisite art pieces behind him. You can find one of his poems he penned in Edirne where he lived after thirty nine years of sultanate on the shirt presented in your room…