The reception hall of Topkapi Palace

Description

Featured in the 1836 collaborative work of Thomas Allom and Robert Walsh, this steel engraving depicts the official Reception Hall and courtyard life in Topkapı Palace (Seraglio), the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire. The artwork highlights the characteristic features of palace architecture, such as wide wooden eaves, elegantly carved capitals, and stonework. The viziers gathered in the shadow of the columns, the palace guards with their magnificent headdresses, and the state officials bowing in accordance with protocol rules aesthetically visualize the diplomatic weight, official hierarchy, and deep-rooted statecraft of the empire.