An Ottoman hawking hood, Turkey, 18th or 19th century

Philippe Missillier Collection no.110C

A hood was placed over a hawk’s eyes when it was not being flown to keep it passive and prevent it becoming agitated. While robust accoutrements relating to hawking survive, including hawking drums, the more perishable hoods rarely survive, being subjected to vigorous wear and tear in the hunting field. Three Indian hawking hoods dating from the twentieth century are in the Khalili collection (Spink 2022, Part three, pp.1158-9, nos.777, 778, 779). The present Ottoman hood is an even rarer survival.

Hawks were highly valued and were given by rulers as diplomatic gifts. Contemporary paintings record rulers and princes on hawking expeditions. A folio in the Süleymanname of Arifi, an imperial Ottoman manuscript copied in 1558 (Topkapi Saray Museum, inv. no.H. 1517; Atil 1986 p.62) depicts Suleyman the Magnificent (r.1520-66) hunting with a hawk together with his sons (Topkapi Saray Museum, inv. no.H. 1517, folio 393a; Atil 1986, pp.174-5, no.38). A Persian painting attributable to Mirza ‘Ali (active 1525-75) depicts a royal Safavid hawking party in about 1570, with a bird on the wrist of an attendant (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no.12.223.1).