The Fountain of Ahmed III carries a poem that ends in the sultan's own words, inviting you to turn the tap, drink, and say a prayer for Ahmed Khan. It was built in 1728, on a spot where a Byzantine fountain is said to have stood before it. It belongs to the Tulip Era, a short stretch of peace when Istanbul turned its attention to gardens and to softer ornament. The building is a small marble pavilion rather than a plain basin in a wall. It is a square block with rounded corners, roofed by five low domes, and its deep eaves overhang the stone like the edge of a tent. A wall fountain faces each of the four directions, and the grilled kiosks at the corners, called sebils, once handed out water and sweet sherbet.
The pavilion stands between the gate of Topkapı Palace and the flank of Hagia Sophia, and almost no part of its surface was left plain. Carved tulips, cypresses and vines fill every panel beneath bands of gilded calligraphy. Among the vines sit small bowls of fruit and flowers cut in low relief, the detail that marks the taste of the age. The taps are dry now and the sherbet is long gone, yet the pavilion still holds its corner of the square. It marks the point where Ottoman builders left plain classical lines behind for curves and dense floral carving.