Turquerie: An Eighteenth-Century European Fantasy by Haydn Williams is the first comprehensive scholarly study devoted to Turquerie—the European fascination with Ottoman Turkish culture that flourished during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Written by former Sotheby's director and decorative arts specialist Haydn Williams, the book explores how Europe's long-standing fear of the Ottoman Empire gradually transformed into admiration, inspiring a remarkable fashion for Turkish-inspired painting, architecture, interiors, furniture, porcelain, textiles, costume, theatre, and decorative arts. Lavishly illustrated and meticulously researched, it is widely regarded as the definitive reference on this unique artistic movement.

Organized into eight thematic and broadly chronological chapters, the book examines the origins of Turquerie following the fall of Constantinople, the influence of Ottoman ambassadors, travel literature, and One Thousand and One Nights, and the spread of Turkish-inspired aesthetics across France, Britain, Germany, Russia, Poland, and Italy. Featuring 291 high-quality illustrations, it showcases paintings, interiors, costumes, garden pavilions, tents, porcelain, furniture, and architectural follies that reveal how Ottoman culture shaped European taste before giving way to nineteenth-century Orientalism. The result is an essential work for art historians, collectors, interior designers, museum professionals, and anyone interested in cultural exchange between Europe and the Ottoman world.