Paintings for Turkish Homes: Bosphorus, Istanbul, Cappadocia and the Aegean

A Bosphorus painting the width of your sofa wall. Iznik-inspired tulips in the cobalt and turquoise of your room. Cappadocia balloons at sunrise. Your own Bodrum holiday photo. We hand-paint all of it to order in our studio in Dafen Art Village, Longgang District, Shenzhen, at any size, and ship to Turkey, Germany, the UK and anywhere else. There is no minimum order, and an email quote usually arrives within 12 hours; WhatsApp is the fastest way to contact us.

Who buys these, and what they hang

Istanbul apartments and Bodrum summer houses, and Turkish families in Berlin, Cologne, London and Rotterdam who want something on the wall that is theirs rather than generic. The palette that keeps coming back is blue and turquoise against cream and warm wood, with copper and brass accents.

What we are asked for most: the Bosphorus or the Istanbul skyline at sunset, Iznik-inspired tulips and carnations, Cappadocia balloons, an Aegean coast scene from a family holiday photo, an ebru-look abstract for a hallway, and a Turkish coffee still life for a cafe.

Terms buyers search: yagli boya tablo, el yapimi, buyuk boy tablo, Istanbul tablosu, Bogaz manzarasi, cini desenli tablo, lale. In Germany: handgemaltes Oelgemaelde.

Bosphorus and the Istanbul skyline

This is the most requested subject and the easiest to get wrong at the wrong size. The skyline is a wide subject, so a tall canvas crops out everything that makes it recognizable. Above a three seat sofa, aim for 180 to 220 centimeters wide. Above a two seat sofa, 140 to 160 centimeters.

We paint it at sunset, at blue hour, or in daylight with ferries on the water. Send your own photograph if you want a specific view, your neighborhood, or the window you grew up with. Several photos can be combined into one composition. If you have no photo, tell us the mood and the district and we propose a version before you commit.

Iznik and Ottoman pattern on canvas

Tulips, carnations and saz leaves painted large, either as a repeating field or as a single stem on a plain ground. The classic cobalt, turquoise and coral red reads beautifully against cream walls, and it can be recolored to your room without losing the character of the motif. Some rooms call for pure geometry instead of flowers, and we paint Islamic geometric patterns the same way.

These motifs are historical and in the public domain. We call our work Iznik-inspired and never claim Iznik or Kutahya origin. We do not copy a specific contemporary designer’s tile pattern.

Cappadocia, the Aegean and your own holiday photos

• Cappadocia balloons at sunrise, with the fairy chimneys in silhouette. Works well as a wide living room piece or a smaller pair for a child’s room.
• Pamukkale terraces in white and pale blue, a good match for a minimal interior.
• Bodrum, Alacati and the Aegean coast. Send the photo you took. We paint the boat, the bay or the bougainvillea street in palette knife, so it reads as a painting and not a print of a snapshot.
• Your village or your family house, painted from an old photograph, often as a gift for parents.

Read photo to painting for what makes a photo paintable and how the approval works.

Ebru-look abstracts and letterform art

Ebru marbling is a UNESCO-listed craft made on water, so what we paint is an ebru-inspired surface: swirled, layered paint that carries the same movement at a scale marbling cannot reach. It suits long hallways and stairwells, and it can be mixed to your exact blues and coppers. One painter builds those layers from start to finish, and how we paint walks you through the order they go on in.

For hat, the Ottoman calligraphic art, we paint from a design you supply and verify. We do not write, compose or correct Ottoman or Arabic script. Send your calligrapher’s artwork or the exact wording as an image and we paint it at the size and in the colors you want.

Whirling dervish and figurative work

The sema is a religious ceremony, not decoration, so we paint it only as you direct it and always with respect. Modern, simplified treatments in a single color with a strong silhouette are the most requested. We do not paint caricatures.

Two more limits worth stating plainly. Portraits of Ataturk are painted only from a photograph you supply, respectfully, and we do not put them in our catalog or marketing, because his memory is protected under Turkish law. We do not paint flags or political symbols, and we do not copy works by living or recently deceased Turkish painters.

Cafes, restaurants and hotels

Turkish coffee still lifes, Bosphorus sets for a restaurant wall, and matched pieces across several rooms of a boutique hotel. Trade pricing starts at one piece and improves at 6 and again at 21, and mixed designs count together. Production runs 7 to 10 business days for 1 to 5 pieces, 10 to 15 for 6 to 20, and 15 to 20 for 21 to 50. For a set of six or more, rolled canvas is much cheaper to ship and your local framer stretches them in a day. See art for restaurants, bars and cafes or art for hotels.

Sizes, finishes and how to choose

Shipping to Turkey, Germany and the UK

Prices are EXW our Shenzhen studio, and freight is quoted separately at cost with the artwork so you see the landed figure before you decide. Express courier by FedEx or DHL takes 5 to 10 business days. Sea freight takes 25 to 40 days and suits larger orders in a crate. If your delivery address sits in Germany or anywhere else in the EU, the page on shipping to the European Union covers the routes we use.

Import charges are the buyer’s. Turkey applies customs duty and VAT on imported goods, and Germany and the UK charge import VAT, with rules that differ for private buyers and companies. Hand-painted paintings are classified under HTS 9701 in most tariff systems. Please confirm the current treatment with a customs broker or your local tax office. We provide the invoice and packing list you need, and we tell you what we know for your destination when we quote.

A good fit, and not a fit