Tulipa N.4

Analogue photography in digital processing on fine art print, 24 k applied by hand, plexiglas. The tulip is a flower symbolizing the union between European and Middle Eastern cultures. Perennial plant of the Liliaceae family, it belongs to the genre Tulipa. The tulip was imported into Europe from the court of Suleiman the Magnificent and it was cultivated in the gardens of the University of Leiden by the French botanist Lecluse. Then this flower spread all over Europe, keeping in its name the influence of the Persian term “Tulbend”, which means “turban”. These four artworks provide documentary evidence of what brought to the flowering of four bulbs, originated from the waters of four rivers -Nile, the Euphrates, the Syr Darya and the Amur Darya- preserved in a “Charbagh” in Istanbul. A “Charbagh or Chahar Bagh” is a quadrilateral garden layout based on the four gardens of Paradise mentioned in the Quran. The handmade golden decorations are inspired by traditional motives of Persian miniatures.