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Davud Agha

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Davud Agha
Bornunknown
Died1598 or 1599
NationalityOttoman
OccupationArchitect

Davud Agha was the chief imperial architect of the Ottoman Empire from 1588,[1] after the death of his predecessor Sinan, until his death in 1598 or 1599.[2] His works include various monuments from the classical period of Ottoman architecture.[1]

Career

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Davud Agha was a protegé of the Chief Black Eunuch, Mehmet bin Abdurrahman. Under the latter's supervision, he may have been responsible for a late expansion of the Atik Valide Mosque in Üsküdar (previously designed by Sinan) between 1584 and 1586.[3][4] The Throne Room (Has Oda) and a hammam in Topkapı Palace, dated to 1585, is the earliest work clearly attributed to him.[5] Other early works attributed to him, while Sinan was still the chief architect, are the mosque of Kızlarağa Mehmet at Çarşamba (circa 1585)[6] and the Mehmed Agha Mosque and Mehmed Agha Hamam (1585) in Istanbul.[1][7] At the time of Sinan's death, he was a senior official in the imperial department of architects and served as the Master of the Waterways.[6]

Davud was Sinan's apprentice and followed the latter's teachings closely. His mosque designs tend to follow the octagonal baldaquin and hexagonal baldquin ideas that Sinan used in his late career.[1] According to art historian Doğan Kuban, Davud was one of the few Ottoman architects after Sinan who displayed great potential.[1] One of the buildings potentially attributed to him (or possibly to Mehmed Agha if not[8]) is the Nışançı Mehmed Pasha Mosque (1584–1589) in Istanbul.[8][9][10] He probably designed the market (arasta) and primary school that were added to the Selimiye Mosque complex built by Sinan in Edirne.[11] The Cerrahpasha Mosque (for Cerrah Mehmed Pasha) in Istanbul, completed around 1593,[12][13] is likely attributable to him.[14] Other monuments more securely attributed to him include the Tomb of Koca Sinan Pasha (1593) on Divanyolu,[15] the Pearl Kiosk (1593) on the Bosphorus shore,[5] and the complex of Gazanfer Agha (before 1596 or 1599) near the Valens Aqueduct.[5][16]

He was likely commissioned to build the mausoleum of Sultan Murad III, located in the precinct of Hagia Sophia, when that sultan died in 1595.[17] He most likely designed the tomb but it was completed after his death by Dalgıç Ahmed Agha in 1599 or 1600.[18] Davud Agha was also responsible for beginning construction on the Yeni Valide Mosque in the Eminönü neighbourhood of Istanbul in 1597, on the orders of Safiye Sultan. The project was ultimately abandoned after his death and only completed later in 17th century by a different architect and patron.[19]

Death and successors

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Two different accounts of Davud's death are found in historical sources, one claiming that he died of the plague in September 1598 (1007 AH) and another claiming that he was executed at Vefa Square in 1599 (1008 AH).[2] He was succeeded as chief architect by Dalgıç Ahmed Agha,[20] who remained in the post until 1605 or 1606 and was in turn succeeded by Sedefkar Mehmed Agha.[21][20]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ a b c d e Kuban 2010, p. 351.
  2. ^ a b Eyice, Semavi (1994). "DÂVUD AĞA". TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  3. ^ Necipoğlu 2011, pp. 286–287.
  4. ^ Kayaalp 2018, p. 82.
  5. ^ a b c Goodwin 1971, p. 338.
  6. ^ a b Goodwin 1971, p. 335.
  7. ^ Gündüz, Filiz (2003). "MEHMED AĞA KÜLLİYESİ". TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  8. ^ a b Goodwin 1971, p. 336.
  9. ^ Kuban 2010, p. 351, 381-382.
  10. ^ Dogan, Sema (2007). "NİŞANCI MEHMED PAŞA KÜLLİYESİ". TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  11. ^ Kuban 2010, pp. 351–352, 311–312.
  12. ^ Goodwin 1971, p. 337.
  13. ^ Seyhan, Köksal (1993). "CERRAHPAŞA KÜLLİYESİ". TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2024-11-01.
  14. ^ Kuban 2010, p. 381.
  15. ^ Goodwin 1971, pp. 337–338.
  16. ^ Kuban 2010, p. 387.
  17. ^ Goodwin 1971, p. 339.
  18. ^ Kuban 2010, p. 389.
  19. ^ Baer, Marc David (2011). Honored by the Glory of Islam: Conversion and Conquest in Ottoman Europe. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-19-979783-7.
  20. ^ a b Kuban 2010, p. 352.
  21. ^ Goodwin 1971, p. 342.

Bibliography

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