{{short description|Ottoman architect}} {{Infobox architect | name = Davud Agha | birth_date = unknown | death_date = 1598 or 1599 | death_place = Istanbul | significant_buildings = }} '''Davud Agha''' was the chief imperial architect of the Ottoman Empire from 1588,{{Sfn|Kuban|2010|p=351}} after the death of his predecessor Sinan, until his death in 1598 or 1599.<ref name=":1" /> His works include various monuments from the classical period of Ottoman architecture.{{Sfn|Kuban|2010|p=351}}
== Career == left|thumb|The Mehmed Agha Mosque in Istanbul (1585), one of Davud's early works before he became chief imperial architect Davud Agha was probably recruited through the ''devshirme'' system circa 1562 and from there followed a typical path into the Ottoman bureaucracy, studying architecture under the master architect Sinan.<ref name=":24">{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=un4WcfEASZwC&pg=PA520 |title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780195309911 |editor-last=Bloom |editor-first=Jonathan M. |volume=1 |location= |pages=520 |language=en |chapter=Davud Ağa |editor-last2=Blair |editor-first2=Sheila S.}}</ref> He probably participated as a military engineer in the Ottoman campaign against the Safavids in 1583.<ref name=":24" /> He was a protegé of the Chief Black Eunuch, Mehmed Agha or Mehmet bin Abdurrahman. Under the latter's supervision, he may have been responsible for a late expansion of the Atik Valide Mosque in Üsküdar (previously designed by Sinan) between 1584 and 1586.{{Sfn|Necipoğlu|2011|pp=286–287}}{{Sfn|Kayaalp|2018|p=82}} The earliest work clearly attributed to him was in the Topkapı Palace in 1585,{{Sfn|Goodwin|1971|p=338}} where he constructed the sultan's bath and most likely the adjacent Imperial Hall (''Hünkâr Sofası'').{{Sfn|Necipoğlu|1991|p=|pp=172–173}} Other early works attributed to him, while Sinan was still the chief architect, are the mosque of Kızlarağa Mehmet at Çarşamba (circa 1585){{Sfn|Goodwin|1971|p=335}} and the Mehmed Agha Mosque and Mehmed Agha Hamam (1585) in Istanbul.{{Sfn|Kuban|2010|p=351}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gündüz |first=Filiz |date=2003 |title=MEHMED AĞA KÜLLİYESİ |url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mehmed-aga-kulliyesi |access-date=2024-11-01 |website=TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi |language=tr}}</ref> At the time of Sinan's death, he was a senior official in the imperial department of architects and served as the Master of the Waterways,{{Sfn|Goodwin|1971|p=335}} the second-highest position in the department.<ref name=":24" /> [[File:Gazanfer Aga Medresesi ve Turbesi DSCF3820.jpg|thumb|The Gazanfer Agha complex (built before 1599), one of Davud's later works]] One of the buildings sometimes attributed to him is the Nışançı Mehmed Pasha Mosque (1584–1589) in Istanbul,{{Sfn|Kuban|2010|p=351, 381-382}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dogan |first=Sema |date=2007 |title=NİŞANCI MEHMED PAŞA KÜLLİYESİ |url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/nisanci-mehmed-pasa-kulliyesi |access-date=2024-11-01 |website=TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi |language=tr}}</ref> but it may be a late work of Sinan{{Sfn|Necipoğlu|2011|pp=408–409, 412}} or even possibly a work of Sedefkar Mehmed Agha.{{Sfn|Goodwin|1971|p=336}} He probably designed the market (''arasta'') and primary school that were added to the Selimiye Mosque complex built by Sinan in Edirne.{{Sfn|Kuban|2010|pp=351-352, 311-312}} The Cerrahpasha Mosque (for Cerrah Mehmed Pasha) in Istanbul, completed around 1593,{{Sfn|Goodwin|1971|p=337}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Seyhan |first=Köksal |date=1993 |title=CERRAHPAŞA KÜLLİYESİ |url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/cerrahpasa-kulliyesi |access-date=2024-11-01 |website=TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi |language=tr}}</ref> is likely attributable to him.{{Sfn|Kuban|2010|p=381}}{{Sfn|Necipoğlu|1991|p=412}} Other monuments more securely attributed to him include the Tomb of Koca Sinan Pasha (1593) on Divanyolu,{{Sfn|Goodwin|1971|p=|pp=337–338}} the Basketmakers' Kiosk (1591)<ref name=":24" /> and Pearl Kiosk (1593) on the Bosphorus shore,{{Sfn|Goodwin|1971|p=338}} and the complex of Gazanfer Agha (before 1596 or 1599) near the Valens Aqueduct.{{Sfn|Goodwin|1971|p=338}}{{Sfn|Kuban|2010|p=387}}
He was likely commissioned to build the mausoleum of Sultan Murad III, located in the precinct of Hagia Sophia, when that sultan died in 1595.{{Sfn|Goodwin|1971|p=339}} He most likely designed the tomb but it was completed after his death by Dalgıç Ahmed Agha in 1599 or 1600.{{Sfn|Kuban|2010|p=389}} Davud Agha was also responsible for beginning construction on the Yeni Valide Mosque in the Eminönü neighbourhood of Istanbul in 1597, on the orders of Safiye Sultan. The project was ultimately abandoned after his death and only completed later in 17th century by a different architect and patron.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Baer |first=Marc David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CIPR5L5SAtYC&pg=PA86 |title=Honored by the Glory of Islam: Conversion and Conquest in Ottoman Europe |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-19-979783-7 |pages=86 |language=en}}</ref>
== Style == Davud was Sinan's apprentice and followed the latter's teachings closely. His mosque designs tend to follow the octagonal baldaquin and hexagonal baldquin ideas that Sinan used in his late career.{{Sfn|Kuban|2010|p=351}} Some scholars have characterized his works as conservative, citing the design of the Yeni Valide Mosque as an example because it follows the design of the Şehzade Mosque, a work from Sinan's early career.<ref name=":24" /> Art historian Doğan Kuban, based on the assumption that the Nışançı Mehmed Pasha Mosque is his work, states that Davud was one of the few Ottoman architects after Sinan who displayed great potential and who went beyond his designs.{{Sfn|Kuban|2010|p=351}}
== Death and successors == Two different accounts of Davud's death are found in historical sources, one claiming that he died of the plague in September 1598 (1007 AH) and another claiming that he was executed at Vefa Square in 1599 (1008 AH).<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Eyice |first=Semavi |date=1994 |title=DÂVUD AĞA |url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/davud-aga |access-date=2024-11-01 |website=TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi |language=tr}}</ref> He was succeeded as chief architect by Dalgıç Ahmed Agha,{{Sfn|Kuban|2010|p=352}} who remained in the post until 1605 or 1606 and was in turn succeeded by Sedefkar Mehmed Agha.{{Sfn|Goodwin|1971|p=342}}{{Sfn|Kuban|2010|p=352}}
== References ==
=== Citations === {{Reflist}}
=== Bibliography ===
* {{Cite book |last=Goodwin |first=Godfrey |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofottoman0000good/ |title=A History of Ottoman Architecture |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=1971 |isbn=0500274290 |location=New York |pages= |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Kayaalp |first=Pinar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B2hNDwAAQBAJ |title=The Empress Nurbanu and Ottoman Politics in the Sixteenth Century: Building the Atik Valide |publisher=Routledge |year=2018 |isbn=978-1-351-59661-9 |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Kuban |first=Doğan |title=Ottoman Architecture |publisher=Antique Collectors' Club |year=2010 |isbn=9781851496044 |location= |pages= |translator-last=Mill |translator-first=Adair}} * {{Cite book |last=Necipoğlu |first=Gülru |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LE9QAAAAMAAJ |title=Architecture, Ceremonial, and Power: The Topkapi Palace in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries |publisher=Architectural History Foundation and MIT Press |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-262-14050-8 |language=en}} * {{Cite book |last=Necipoğlu |first=Gülru |url=https://archive.org/details/ageofsinanarchit0000neci/ |title=The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire |publisher=Reaktion Books |year=2011 |isbn=9781861892539 |edition=Revised |orig-year=2005}}
Category:1588 deaths Category:Architects from the Ottoman Empire