The Platonic bowl: Alev Ebuzziya Siesbye by Alistair McAlpine with photographs by Jean Marie del Moral
The pots of Alev Ebuzziya Siesbye have an ideal serenity and timeless beauty, as visitors to her retrospective in Istanbul have discovered. But their cool simplicity belies the passion that goes into creating them. Alistair McAlpine met the artist in Paris.
Alev Ebuzziya's influences are ancient rather than modern - Cycladic, mesopotamian and Anatolian art. Bowls in gorgeous Mediterranean blues, soft greens, and lavender with stripes of yellow and white.
Drama in the round by Robert Ousterhout with photographs from Scala/Archaeology and Art Publications
The dramatic mosaics and frescoes of Istanbul’s Kariye Camii, or Church of the Chora, blew away the stiff conventions of Byzantine art. Their energy leaves Giotto looking staid. But they are now in danger of turning to dust. The powerful pictures on these pages are from a book by Robert Ousterhout, who fell in love with the church twenty-five years ago. Here he makes a passionate case for preserving this fourteenth-century masterpiece.
The presentation of the Virgin in the Temple: Mary appears twice, given by her parents to be raised in the temple, and seated in the Holy of Holies being fed manna by an angel.
See full article and order the book, The Art of the Kariye Camii, by Robert Ousterhout
One of the most famous details of the Kariye; the Angel of the Lord rolls up the scroll of the heavens at the end of time.
Wish you were here by Elizabeth Meath Baker Illustrations: Mert Sandalci
Max Fruchtermann (1852-1918) was the publisher who took the postcard to Turkey and thereby took Turkey to the world. His cards sold by the million. Mert Sandalci - historian, archivist and librettist - has assembled thousands of these cards into three mammoth volumes. Elizabeth Meath Baker leafs through their pages.
Postcards: Sultan Abdulhamid's favourite horse at Yildiz Palace. The Imperial Guard The jetty at Kadikoy
Travels with Turhan by Brian Mathew Photographs by Cafer Türkmen
Brian Mathew pays tribute to the late Turhan Baytop,Turkey’s pre-eminent botanist, who died in June2002.
Tuhan Baytop with his wife and fellow botanist Asuman, hunting for digitalis in northern Thrace in 1959. In1973 he discovered 'Crocus Abantensis' in the hiils above Lake Abant.
More crocus collecting in Cornucopia 39 with George Maw
Crocuses and fritillia in the Taurus Mountains Cornucopia 31
The birth of the big apple by Ursula Buchan and Berrin Torolsan
It's official. All the world's large apples, the juicy edible ones we buy today, as opposed to the small wild ones, have a single common ancestor that came from the East. Ursula Buchan tackles the science, while Berrin Torolsan heads for the kitchen.
Photographs and apple recipes by Berrin Torolsan.
For a complete list of Berrin Torolsan's cookery stories in Cornucopia, see our cookery index. Selected recipes are also available online: menus. Turkish apple recipes in this issue: Stuffed apples Pickled apples and pears Poached apples Apple compote Caucasian apple strudel Never-ending apple cider
Travel
Beaufort's Hunt The man who put Turkey on the map by Nicholas Courtney Photographs: James Mortimer and Kate Clow
Francis Beaufort’s epic 1812 survey of Turkey’s southern coast and its classical sites sparked a European treasure hunt. It also very nearly cost him his life.
Cnidos (near present-day Dalyan) lies towards the western end of Beaufort's survey area. Though in Turkey he enjoyed 'a tranquil sky without a cloud or a breeze', he is remembered as the man who gave the world the Beaufort Scale, used to measure wind force.
Also in this issue: Time travelling: The Pamukkale Express by Jane Taka with photographs by Kerem Uzel
Profiles
Parallel lives Stratford Canning and Mahmut II by David Barchard Illustrations courtesy of the author
Both were ambitious men with a penchant for poetry who suffered extremes of fortune. David Barchard charts the ties between two dominant figures in nineteenth-century Turkey, the British ambassador Stratford Canning and the Ottoman sultan Mahmut II.
Fine fast food Text, photographs and gullac pudding recipe by Berrin Torolsan
Most fast food is heavy, greasy and bad for your health. Gullac pancakes, by contrast, are beautiful organza-thin leaves, light as a feather and made from the simplest ingredients. What's more, they keep for an age.
Also in this issue Kevin Gould's tasting notes at La Cave, Istanbul.
Book reviews
Reviews by Maureen Freely, John Carswell, David Barchard and John Freely.
