Turkish delights

‘The Terrible Turk’ was a threat made by mothers to recalcitrant children in the time of the Mongols, while for centuries in the Caucasus women sang a very different refrain to their daughters: ‘Live among diamonds and splendour as the wife of the Sultan.’ No longer the enemy at the gates, the Turks are here, and have set up camp at the Royal Academy in a blockbuster show. Joining the EU is their latest campaign, and they have pulled out all the stops to show us who they are. This exhibition introduces the Turks from their own perspective, and offers more than simply an array of glittering objects and gleaming silks, though these are also here in abundance.

The story begins in the vast expanse of the Central Asian Steppes. Turkic tribes — Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, etc. — had already been moving westwards for 1,000 years before the exhibition’s arbitrary starting point of AD600, but, never mind, 1,000 years is a good span for a superb exhibition, and brings us to the high point of Ottoman art and culture.

In the 7th century, the Turkic tribes in Central Asia were nomadic animists and sky-worshipping shamanists. Over the centuries, they encountered different religions and cultures, whose influences were adopted and assimilated: Buddhism, Manichaeism, Christianity, Judaism (an entire Turkic tribe, the Khazars, converted) and finally Islam. On show, for example, is a boulder with an 8th-century inscription in Turkic runic script. There, second line down, to the left, is what seems to be a geometricised tulip form, a special feature of village rugs from Ladik and Konya. Did the Turks bring this motif with them from the Steppes? Patterns linger, though their significance may change or be forgotten, and carpets carry many messages.