Abstract
<jats:p>This volume examines the Ottoman ilmiye (learned-legal) estate through the lens of dress, bringing together institutional history, art history, and material culture. Ulema attire was not merely personal clothing; it worked as a normative system that made authority, hierarchy, professional belonging, and public representation legible. Building on TÜBA’s sustained scholarship, the book connects texts, objects, and visual memory through diverse evidence. Archival records, court registers, probate inventories, palace and museum collections, costume albums, and miniature paintings are read side by side to trace tensions between centre and province, everyday practice and ceremonial protocol, and rule and usage. The analysis also follows the production, circulation, and changing meanings of garments, clarifying how legitimacy and scholarly authority were staged in social space. Informed by the symposium and its accompanying exhibition, the volume opens debate to wider audiences and supports cultural-heritage interpretation. It offers a reliable reference for researchers and practitioners in Turkey. Keywords: Ottoman Empire, Ilmiye, Ulema attire, Dress codes, Court ceremonial, Material culture, History of dress, Institutional history, Art history, Ottoman miniature painting, Representation and legitimacy, Cultural heritage</jats:p>