Glass

Glass plate found at Kubadabad Palace, with an inscription bearing the name of Sultan Giyaseddin Keyhüsrev II (1237-1247). Konya Karatay Museum

Although glass is as old as civilization itself, few traces of it have been discovered in archeological sites in Turkey. Glass-making does not appear to have ever been an important industry in Anatolia. Remains of glass ovens, dating from the 6th c. BC, were found at the famous Lydian capital city of Sardis, but no other oven remains have been discovered.

Intact glass objects from antiquity are rare, due to the fragile nature of the material. Compared to Iran and Syria, virtually no glass remains from Seljuk-era Turkey. However, the underwater archaeology expeditions of the Serce Limani shipwreck off the Turkish coast at Bodrum, dated to the 11th century, have shown that glass was an important maritime trading commodity in the area. In all probability, glass was imported by ship to Turkish ports along the Mediterranean from Syria and Iraq, the two major centers of glass production of the Islamic period. However, it is hard to believe that glass production, even on a small scale, did not exist in some form in Anatolia during the Seljuk period, much as it did in the other parts of the Near East at that time. Lamps and other daily implements were readily fabricated out of clay, but glass luxury items, such as beakers and platters must have been a rare commodity cherished by those able to afford them.

The excavations of the site of Alaeddin Keykubad's palace of Kubadabad on Lake Beyşehir have provided fragments of plain and stained window glass found in the small hamam of the Palace. Professor Rüchan Arik affrims that bracelets, beads, bottles, lamps (with and without handles) and drinking beakers have been found in red, yellow and green glass. She has also found traces of a glass furnace on the site with glass remnants on its walls, as well as remants of raw materials for glass production (cullet, glass rods). These findings distinguish this furnace from a ceramics kiln. Simple wares such as lamps and goblets for everyday use were probably manufactured on site, and more sophisticated products were imported from the more accomplished Syrian-Iraqi studios. Research in progress by Zekiye Uysal will shed more light upon this subject when completed.

Several buildings in Konya also give evidence that colored glass was set in stucco panels in a stained-glass fashion. In addition, transparent yellow, greenish-blue, and dark red glass wine goblets, glasses, and cups like those found at Kubadabad have been discovered at the Palace of the Alanya Iç Kale. The most important glass object to come down to us from this era is the magnificent luster glass platter found during the excavations at Kubadabad and which is now conserved at the Konya Karatay Museum. It bears an inscription to Sultan Giyaseddin Keyhüsrev II, and was most probably an Iraqi or Syrian import.