Title of privilege in the name of Sokollu Mehmed Paşa

21-30 Receb 983 [26 Ekim-4 Kasım 1575]

The document (berat) is headed by the tuğra (imperial cipher) of Sultan Murad III reading, ‘Şah Murad b. Selim Şah Han may he ever be victorious’. It explains that Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Paşa has purchased the right to collect ispençe taxes on the village of Yundalanı in the sub-province of Çirmen, which had previously been granted to Kapı Ağası Yakub Ağa by Sultan Süleyman (r. 1520-66) from the said Kapı Ağası Yakub Ağa, and received a property deed. The document exhibited here is a renewal of the conditions laid down in the original deed, stating that the property belongs to Mehmed Paşa, who has the right to sell or endow it as he sees fit, and that others have no claim upon it. Berat documents were valid only during the life of the sultan who issued them and at the beginning of each reign had to be replaced by a new document bearing the tuğra of the new sultan. The example exhibited here is a renewal of an original document issued by Sultan Selim II (r. 1566-74), and bears the tuğra of Sultan Murad III. The entire first line and the titles of Mehmed Paşa in the third and fourth lines are written in gold. The tuğra is drawn in blue with gilded outlining and richly illuminated by probably a master artist employed at the palace studio.

Detail

Title:

Date:

21-30 Receb 983 [26 Ekim-4 Kasım 1575]

Dimensions:

130,3 x 33,5 cm

Medium:

Paper, black ink, paint, gold

Location:

Sabancı Üniversitesi Sakıp Sabancı Müzesi (Emirgan, İstanbul, Türkiye)

Object Number:

160-0029-SMU

Credit:

Exhibition History