• Source: Davud Agha

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




Career



Davud Agha was probably recruited through the devshirme system circa 1562 and from there followed a typical path into the Ottoman bureaucracy, studying architecture under the master architect Sinan. He probably participated as a military engineer in the Ottoman campaign against the Safavids in 1583. He was a protegé of the Chief Black Eunuch, Mehmed Agha or 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. The earliest work clearly attributed to him was in the Topkapı Palace in 1585, where he constructed the sultan's bath and most likely the adjacent Imperial Hall (Hünkâr Sofası). Other early works attributed to him, while Sinan was still the chief architect, are the mosque of Kızlarağa Mehmet at Çarşamba (circa 1585) and the Mehmed Agha Mosque and Mehmed Agha Hamam (1585) in Istanbul. 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, the second-highest position in the department.

One of the buildings sometimes attributed to him is the Nışançı Mehmed Pasha Mosque (1584–1589) in Istanbul, but it may be a late work of Sinan or even possibly a work of Sedefkar Mehmed Agha. He probably designed the market (arasta) and primary school that were added to the Selimiye Mosque complex built by Sinan in Edirne. The Cerrahpasha Mosque (for Cerrah Mehmed Pasha) in Istanbul, completed around 1593, is likely attributable to him. Other monuments more securely attributed to him include the Tomb of Koca Sinan Pasha (1593) on Divanyolu, the Basketmakers' Kiosk (1591) and Pearl Kiosk (1593) on the Bosphorus shore, and the complex of Gazanfer Agha (before 1596 or 1599) near the Valens Aqueduct.
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. He most likely designed the tomb but it was completed after his death by Dalgıç Ahmed Agha in 1599 or 1600. 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.




Style


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. Some scholars have characterized his works as conservative, citing the design of the Yeni Valide Mosque as an example because it follows the design of the Şehzade Mosque, a work from Sinan's early career. Art historian Doğan Kuban, based on the assumption that the Nışançı Mehmed Pasha Mosque is his work, states that Davud was one of the few Ottoman architects after Sinan who displayed great potential and who went beyond his designs.




Death and successors


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). He was succeeded as chief architect by Dalgıç Ahmed Agha, who remained in the post until 1605 or 1606 and was in turn succeeded by Sedefkar Mehmed Agha.




References






= Citations

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= Bibliography

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Goodwin, Godfrey (1971). A History of Ottoman Architecture. New York: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0500274290.
Kayaalp, Pinar (2018). The Empress Nurbanu and Ottoman Politics in the Sixteenth Century: Building the Atik Valide. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-59661-9.
Kuban, Doğan (2010). Ottoman Architecture. Translated by Mill, Adair. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN 9781851496044.
Necipoğlu, Gülru (1991). Architecture, Ceremonial, and Power: The Topkapi Palace in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. Architectural History Foundation and MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-14050-8.
Necipoğlu, Gülru (2011) [2005]. The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire (Revised ed.). Reaktion Books. ISBN 9781861892539.

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Davud Agha
• Classical Ottoman architecture
• Selimiye Mosque, Edirne
• Ottoman architecture
• Nışançı Mehmed Pasha Mosque
• Mimar Sinan
• Mustafa I
• Abu'l-Fath Khan Javanshir
• Halime Sultan
• Hasan bey Agalarov