SSM
Collections
Sakıp Sabancı’s (d. 2004) collection of calligraphic works by famous calligraphers, Korans and illuminated manuscripts began with the purchase of a levha (calligraphic panel) by Sultan Mahmud II (r. 1808-39). The Sakıp Sabancı collection expanded in the 1980s with the purchase of private collections, and from 1989 onwards it was exhibited in major museums abroad. The keen interest attracted by these exhibitions cemented Sakıp Sabancı and his family’s resolve to further enlarge the collection and encouraged the idea of founding a museum. In 1998 the family mansion Atlı Köşk (the Mansion with the Horse) was bequeathed to Sabancı University for the purpose of converting it into a museum, and in 2002 the Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum opened to the public. The ground floor of the mansion was preserved with the original furnishings used by the Sabancı family when they lived there, while the upper floor rooms were transformed into galleries for exhibiting Ottoman manuscripts and calligraphic compositions. In 2012, the 10th anniversary of the Museum, the exhibition technique was enriched with technological applications, enabling the guests to view all pages of thr exhibited manuscripts as well as the bindingd with the iPads provided. Spanning a period from the 14th to 20th century, Sakıp Sabancı Museum’s Arts of the Book and Calligraphy Collection consists of Koran manuscripts and prayer books written by renowned calligraphers; albums compiling pages of Koranic verses, hadith, aphorisms and verses decorated with ornamental works and cut-papers; large panels composed to be hanged on the wall just like paintings; illuminated official documents bearing the imperial cipher of the Ottoman sultans, some of which are illuminated, and calligrapher’s tools made of silver and organic substances, such as coral, ivory, bone and tortoise shell.
The Sakıp Sabancı Museum Painting Collection is both a personal collection focusing on a specific period of Turkish painting and a cultural repository that offers insight into the early development of painting as an art form in Turkey. Begun by Sakıp Sabancı in the 1970s, it serves as the historical continuation of the SSM Arts of the Book and Calligraphy Collection. The collection, which reveals transformations in visual representation and evolving notions of art and the artist, bears traces of the modernisation process spanning from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic. Reflecting a journey that stretches from Ottoman-era painting under Western influence to the intellectually grounded approaches of the Republican generation, the SSM Painting Collection makes visible the moments of intergenerational interaction and change within this period of Turkish art history.
The Sakıp Sabancı Museum Furniture and Decorative Arts Collection is a tangible reflection of the Westernisation that shaped the late Ottoman Empire. In the nineteenth century, profound transformations in state institutions, military organisations, and educational systems had a significant impact on social life, paving the way for a new lifestyle to emerge, particularly in Istanbul. During this period, the interior designs of new buildings, inspired by architectural styles such as Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassical, and Empire, evolved in harmony with these European traditions. Furnishings, drawn from these eclectic styles, were carefully selected to complete the architectural character of the spaces they inhabited.This influence is evident in the ‘Family Quarters’ within the Atlı Köşk, constructed in the late 1920s. The collection, initiated by the family of the Khedive Prince Mehmed Ali Hasan and later expanded by the Sabancı family, includes a range of exquisite pieces. Among these are gilded mirrors, consoles, and tables, magnificent crystal chandeliers, French tapestries, and silk-upholstered furniture sets. Additionally, the collection features accessories such as Sèvres-style porcelain vases, French-made mantel clocks, and bronze sculptures. This remarkable collection represents distinguished examples of the fashions that prevailed in Europe and Istanbul from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century.
The Sakıp Sabancı Museum Archaeological Artifacts Collection consists of twenty-two stone artifacts on display in the museum’s gardens. The majority of the collection is made up of marble column capitals dating to Late Antiquity. The forms and decorative elements of the Ionic, Corinthian, and composite capitals provide insight into the stonemasonry of the period, and various traces on the artifacts also provide significant information regarding their secondary uses. Within the group of column capitals, four composite capitals are thought to date to the nineteenth century and are especially significant as they show how motifs from Antiquity and Late Antiquity were reinterpreted in the Neoclassical period. Another column capital dating to the late antique period, bears traces indicating that it was reworked by nineteenth-century stonemasons. Of the other pieces in the collection, two featuring scenes from Ancient Greek and Roman mythology are especially striking. One is an altar showing the goddess Cybele, and the other is a column drum depicting the war between the giants and the gods of Mount Olympus (the gigantomachy). The latest dated example in the collection belonging to the Middle Ages, is an architrave, often used atop the barriers known as templon or iconostasis that separated the nave from the sanctuary in Byzantine churches. The arched decoration of the architrave, which dates back to the eleventh century, is characteristic of Asia Minor, and it constitutes a special example of the expression of religious symbols in interior architectural decoration.