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Haseki Bostancı

Illustration 030 from:

Costumes Orientaux
Recueil de costumes et vêtements de l'Empire ottoman au 18e siècle
Collection of costumes and clothing of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century
Owned by Joseph Gabriel Monnier

Hassequi en habit ordinaire formant la garde rapprochée du grand seigneur
Haseki (privileged/favourite) in ordinary dress forming the close guard of the great lord

    2° Hasekis. It is a corps of three hundred non-commissioned officers, usually taken from among the Bostandjis. They wear a red cloth uniform, a sabre (ghaddaré), and hold a stick in their hands. (Pl. 149 and 150.) Those who are admitted to the corps receive this baton from the colonel, in the presence of the troops; each of them must pay the chief a ducat, and sacrifice a sheep from his hand, in the barracks of the company, which is situated in the seraglio. Sixty Khassekis are part of the Sultan's cortege, and are considered, for this reason, as bodyguards. The Bostandji-Baschi, their chief, frequently sends them on commission to the provinces.
Source: pp. 29-30, Tableau général de l’Empire othoman. par M. de Mouradgea d’Ohsson, c.1787


Compare:

33 Kasseki aga, chef des [kassekis] qui forment la garde la plus proche du [Grand Seigneur]
Hasekisi Ağa, chief of the Bostancı who form the guard closest to the Great Lord
in: Dessins originaux de costumes turcs, BnF 4-OD-23