The engraving appears to be adapted in reverse from a venetian woodcut of 1532 (for which see 'suleyman the magnificent', bm 1988, cat. 6). The crown was made as a speculation by a consortium of venetian goldsmiths, and dispatched to istanbul in 1532, when it was sold to suleyman for 115,000 ducats. The four tiers were intended to represent the four kingdoms over which suleyman ruled. For further discussion see gülru necipoğlu 'süleyman the magnificient and the representation of power in the context of ottoman-hapsburg-papal rivalry', art bulletin, 1989, 401. 27. Date: 1 January 1535.
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