Material and Dye Characterization of Ottoman Ceremonial Silk Caftans from the Topkapı Palace Museum

Silk fabrics and caftans preserved in the Topkapı Palace Museum collection constitute a distinguished group of cultural heritage objects reflecting the advanced weaving technologies, refined metal-thread use, and sophisticated natural dyeing practices of Ottoman court textile production. In this study, selected ceremonial caftans attributed to five Ottoman sultans were examined through a multidisciplinary and multi-analytical approach to characterize their structural, chromatic, and chemical properties. Color characteristics were evaluated in the CIE L*a*b* color space, while yarn properties, weave structures, and production techniques were investigated by optical microscopy. The morphology and elemental composition of the metal threads were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM–EDX), and dyestuffs were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode-array detection (HPLC–DAD). The results show that compound silk weaving structures were widely used in Ottoman court textiles, metal threads were predominantly silver-based and often gold-gilded, and dyestuffs with high fastness properties were preferentially selected. The revised manuscript situates these findings within a broader international literature on historical textile analysis and natural dye characterization, while using only a limited number of directly relevant studies from the authors’ previous work. The present study therefore provides new, object-specific and comparable data for the scientific documentation, material characterization, and conservation-oriented understanding of Ottoman textile heritage.