Habit of a Greek Lady of Pera in Natolia in 1568

by Thomas Jefferys

The 1757 engraving by Thomas Jefferys is an interesting depiction of the cultural melting pot that was the Ottoman Empire. In particular, the image shows the "Habit of a Greek Lady of Pera," a section of Constantinople (now known as Istanbul), where many European and Greek people lived.

Here we can see a remarkable fusion of the rich tradition of Byzantine culture with the current style of the Ottoman Empire as represented in the clothes of a Greek lady from the year 1568. This lady wears a large fur-trimmed caftan, the sign of her upper class, which she wears over her elaborately decorated chemise. Her figure shows the special features of Pera culture, as it was at that time a peculiar combination of Eastern elegance and Western sophistication. Her headwear, usually described as either a silk-covered pillbox or a veil, emphasizes her particular cultural background in the multinational region of Anatolia.