Cornucopia Vol 59 2019

From the oldest temple on earth to the madly modern hats of Merve Bayındır, Cornucopia 59 time-travels in style. We take you from late-Roman Rough Cilicia to the Eastern Black Sea, where falconry flourishes; discover the secrets of the Black Eunuchs’ quarters in Topkapı Palace, and revel in the glorious swansong of Iznik art in deepest Yorkshire.

Along the way, we meet people from all walks of life. The pianist İdil Biret, a child prodigy in the 60s and still formidable at 71, talks to Christian Tyler. David Barchard pays tribute to a pioneering balloonist, the late Kaili Kidner. Yıldız Moran, Turkey’s first great woman photographer, leaves Jamie Leptien amazed. And how Ara Güler woke up in Aphrodisias – Thomas Roueché tells the story.

In our cover story, Briony Llewllyn tells how the quintessential 19th-century Orientalist JF Lewis loved to paint himself – and his wife – into his pictures.

Great escapes see Henry Maguire turn the clock back to a teenage road trip across Sixties Anatolia and Raf Jah climbing aboard the Eastern Express. Robert Ousterhout sees Byzantine Anatolia through the eyes of the early travellers.

Plus: Shepherd’s delight – the wonders of white cheese; the many faces of the eccentric bohemian painter Mihri Rasim; ‘HALI’, the carpet buff’s bible, on its 40th birthday; İnci Eviner turning art inside out; Belkıs Balpınar’s cosmic kilims; the £5.3m portrait of Süleyman the Magnificent, and other stars of the saleroom.