Ottoman-era wooden cabinet restored

BURSA

A historic wooden cabinet donated by Abdulhamid II to a late 19th-century exhibition benefiting families of fallen soldiers and war veterans has been restored to its original condition following years of work.

The cabinet, which was sold at an exhibition held in Istanbul in 1898 for the benefit of martyrs’ relatives and veterans after the Greco-Turkish War (1897), was later incorporated into the inventory of the Directorate General of Cultural Heritage and Museums in the 1970s. It was eventually transferred to the Bursa Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum.

Due to renovation work at the museum, the cabinet was moved in 2019 to the Bursa Restoration and Conservation Regional Laboratory, where it underwent a six-year restoration and conservation process.

The gilded wooden piece, crafted with intricate ornamentation covering nearly all its surfaces, has now been returned to its original state. Experts say the cabinet features craftsmanship as fine as manuscript illumination, with detailed geometric motifs, painted decorations and gold leaf embellishments throughout.

Speaking to state-run Anadolu Agency, laboratory director Hüseyin Gürsel Bilmiş said the restoration team uncovered the cabinet’s remarkable history during their research.

“We traced its story from a single sentence in the inventory record, which mentioned an exhibition held for the benefit of martyrs’ families and veterans, along with a catalogue in which this cabinet appeared as item number five,” he said.

Bilmiş noted that further research led them to the exhibition catalogue, revealing that numerous prominent figures, including the German emperor, the French president, the Austro-Hungarian emperor, the Khedivate of Egypt and members of the Ottoman dynasty, donated works to be sold for charitable purposes.

He added that archival photographs found at Istanbul University Rare Works Library confirmed the cabinet’s presence in the exhibition hall among works personally contributed by the sultan.

“In the photographs, we saw this cabinet placed at the forefront of the section displaying works donated by Abdulhamid II. In my opinion as an art historian, there is a 99 percent probability that this piece was produced by the sultan himself at the Yıldız Palace carpentry workshop,” he said.

The cabinet, approximately 2-meters tall, was described in the exhibition catalogue as “an ornate glass-fronted cabinet made in the Arab style.” It is decorated in the Edirnekari style, featuring elaborate painted designs and gold leaf detailing across both its front and back surfaces.

Bilmiş emphasized the artifact’s significance not only for its likely royal craftsmanship but also for its role in a charitable initiative supporting war victims’ families. He added that the cabinet will be put on display at a suitable location within the museum in the future.

Restorer Serdar Yaşar said the piece underwent detailed technical documentation upon arrival at the laboratory and was found to have severe insect damage.

He explained that the cabinet was first treated in a nitrogen chamber to eliminate insect activity, followed by technical analysis and mapping of deterioration.

“The work exhibits craftsmanship comparable to manuscript illumination, with nearly all surfaces densely decorated. One of the main issues we encountered was flaking and loss in the paint layers,” Yaşar said.

“To stabilize the surface, we used the ‘facing’ method commonly applied in conservation, temporarily securing the paint layer to prevent further loss,” he added.

Following a year-long conservation phase focused on strengthening the wooden structure, restoration efforts included retouching, color adjustments and renewed gilding to enhance the visibility and integrity of the decorative elements.

The painstaking process has restored the cabinet’s aesthetic unity, bringing the rare artifact back to its original splendor.