Writing box with landscape

Writing boxes used by calligraphers for storing and carrying their implements were often objects of beauty as well as functional. This two-level rectangular writing box has a convex lid decorated with landscapes inside and out.

On top of the lid is a picture of the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul set inside an oval wreath. On the shores of the winding strait can be seen a domed building that is clearly a mosque, a baldachin tomb on four columns, and a fortress with high walls, but the picture is too worn to discern other details. However, the picture covering the inside of the lid is in much better condition. This is a landscape stretching to the sea in the distance seen through a building with a series of arches. The artist has experimented with perspective in depicting the architectural details. A baldachin tomb visible in the background is a notable feature. Sailing ships on the sea, pieces of land with buildings in the distance that might be islands and birds flying in the sky are carefully depicted. They are small-scale examples of the landscapes used in baroque style interior mural compositions that became popular under western influence in the second half of the 18th century.1 Comparison with wall paintings allows the pictures on the box to be dated to the early 19th century, when architectural perspective was widely used by local artists.