The main text and the illustrations of Architecture et décoration turque au XVe siècle, published 1874 in Paris, are by Léon Parvillée. The preface is written by his former teacher Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.
The text gives a historical overview of early Ottoman Bursa and its monuments, and the origins and methods of Turkish art (‘l’art turc’), as well as its principles of layout and use of colour. In the illustration section, most of the figures are connected to the Yeşil Cami (Green Mosque) and the Yeşil Türbe (Green Tomb). Out of 48 pages in the illustration section, 41 are dedicated to architectural décor, while the other 7 pages show interior or exterior views, elevations, and ground plans. The figures include two full-page illustrations of stucco and glass windows, yet Parvillée does not mention them in the text.

Léon Parvillée’s Architecture et décoration turque au XVe siècle was one of many 19th-century luxury publications that can be considered in the context of design reform in industrial arts. The work was of interest both in Europe, for design pedagogy and orientalizing style, as well as in the Ottoman state, for the revitalization of Ottoman ceramics. The book is also a testimony to the endeavour to define a national ‘Ottoman’ or ‘Turkish’ style (see Graves, 2021, pp. 28–29).
The content of the book is based on Parvillée’s work in Bursa, where in 1863 he joined the restoration works on 14th- and 15th-century mosques. In Parvillée’s drawings, slight traces of damage are depicted, thus the monuments of Bursa are shown neither in their ideal state of completion in the 15th century, nor after the restoration in the 19th century (see Roberts/Williams, 2021, pp. 19–20). However, the ruinous state of the monuments in 1862 is never illustrated, but only described by Parvillée (1874, pp. 14–15). The exterior view of the Yeşil Türbe (Green Tomb) (pl. 29) has a picturesque character, as it shows remnants of Ottoman civilization without a trace of contemporary architecture, social life, or restoration works (see Roberts/Williams, 2021, pp. 21–22).