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TURKISH CARPETS
From Seljuk to Ottoman
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Inheriting the art of the carpet from the Seljuks as a legacy,
the Ottomans took it to even greater heights, creating a
matchless collection,
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Carpets constitute
a
branch of art that has been synonymous with the name of
the Turks for centuries. Travel accounts and documents
attest to the beautiful and valuable carpets woven in
Seijuk Anatolia, and the carpet was an important
Anatolian export in the period of Principalities that
followed. The Ottomans, who inherited the art of the
carpet as a legacy, raised it to even greater heights.
Examples of carpets from the Seijuk and Ottoman periods
right up to the present day are exhibited at the Museum
of Turkish and Islamic Art, which has the world's
richest collection. |
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Two 13th century Konya carpets from among the world's
earliest and most famous examples of the art of carpet
making
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THE
SELJUK TRADITION
Carpet-making
is
believed to have started as a nomadic art. Knotted
carpets, the oldest examples of which were found in a
region heavily populated by nomadic tribes, in other
words west and Central Asia, were spread on the ground
for protection again severe climatic conditions. Their
invention was motivated by the need for something to
replace the animal skins that constituted the backbone
of the nomadic economy.
The
ready availability of wool, the basic stuff of the
carpet, and the easy assembly and dismantling of the
horizontal and vertical looms used for weaving
as
well as versatility and portability of the product
closely link the origins of the art of the carpet to the
nomadic tribes.
Turkish tribes played a major role in bringing this art
to the West in the great westward waves of migration out
of Central Asia. |
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The
art of the carpet underwent a major development in
Seijuk Anatolia, making carpets an intensively traded
commodity. Many travellers who passed through the Seijuk
lands beginning in the 12th century mention the
extraordinarily beautiful carpets woven there. Like many
other arts, the Ottomans took over the art of the carpet
from the Seijuk tradition. The group of Seijuk carpets
dating back to the 13th century and known as 'Konya
Carpets' for the area in which they were found has a
special place in the history of carpets and constitutes
the best known group after the Pazlrlk carpet, the
oldest known example of a knotted carpet, which was
found in a fortress in the Altay Mountains and dates to
the 4th-5th century B.C., and the findings from Lou-Ian
in East Turkestan which date from the 3rd-4th century A.
O. and, finally, the Turfan findings, again in East
Turkestan, dating from the 5th-6th century A. D. Some of
these carpets are in Istanbul's Museum of Turkish and
Islamic Art today. With their striking reds and dark
blues, these carpets exhibit geometric shapes and, on
their borders, Kufic letters. |
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OTTOMAN CARPETS IN PAINTINGS
Stylized animal motifs and the mythical creatures we
know from other branches of art are found on the carpets
produced in the major weaving centers of 15th century
Western Anatolia. Due to increasing stylization,
however, they have become almost unrecognizable. The
Kufic letters used
as
border decorations on Seljuk carpets, for example,
diminished in size in the 15th century, eventually
giving way entirely to geometric forms. Although Ottoman
carpets are known to have been exported in large
quantities, on account of their high prices they were
purchased in the West only by the palace and its circle
and the newly emerging class of wealthy |
An Uşak 'bird'
carpet, 17th century |
merchants. On account of their prestige value, they were
also a popular decorative element in western painting in
portraits as well as depictions of religious subjects.
Certain types of Ottoman carpets are therefore known by
the names of the western artists who frequently painted
them. The general composition that predominates in these
carpets, known in the literature as 'Holbein',
'Crivelli', 'Memling' and 'Bellini', is that of a field
covered with geometric shapes such as squares or
octagons of various sizes.
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A Konya carpet,
late 17th century |
THE GIANT CARPETS OF UŞAK
Although Ottoman carpet production was concentrated
in several different regions, the most important
center was at U§ak with its colossal looms. Bergama
was
a
second center. Meanwhile Konya, the leading city for
Seljuk art, always maintained its importance in
carpet production. The classical period of the
Ottoman carpet commences in the 16th century. The
small prayer rugs and giant carpets woven in
workshops there from a repertoire of designs
developfjd by palace artists have an important place
among the furnishings of the period's great mosques,
palaces and stately mansions. The best known types
of Uşak carpets are the 'medal/ion' carpets inspired
by the art of bookbinding, the 'star' carpets with
their geometric designs, and the 'bird' carpets
so-called for their foliate compositions reminiscent
of bird shapes. With some variations in size and
composition, such carpets were produced to the end
of the 17th century. |
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PALACE CARPETS
With the conquest of Cairo in
1512, Ottoman art underwent a transformation. A new
type of carpet emerged, recalling the Mamlûk carpets
in pastel colors woven of extremely soft wool and,
dismissing the compositions predominant to that
time, incorporating vegetal forms scattered over the
entire field. The prayer rugs among these carpets,
which came to be known as 'Palace carpets', are
striking for their small medallions and large
foliate compositions. Palace carpets are thought to
have been made in Istanbul and Bursa. The subsequent
rise of centers like Konya, Ladik, Gördes, Kula and
Mucur in the 17th and 18th centuries did not hamper
production at Uşak. Meanwhile carpets known as
'Izmir' or 'Smyrna carpets' took their name from the
port in the west from which they were shipped up to
the 19th century. Nineteenth century western taste
and the houses and palaces furnished under European
influence naturally triggered a transformation in
the art of the carpet as well.
Workshops were established like that at Hereke,
where carpets that copied the compositions of
Persian rugs were woven with the Iranian 'Sine' knot
which allowed
a finer and denser
weave, replacing the typical Turkish technique known
as the Gördes knot, and at Feshane in Istanbul,
where large-size carpets of Baroque design were
produced. The Istanbul-Kumkapl carpets known for
their high quality silk prayer rugs also stand out
in this late period carpet production.
The art of the Turkish carpet was widespread outside
these centers as well, with the production of
carpets as
a
folk art, known by the name of the locale in which
they were woven. |
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Source: Skylife 01/04 |
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Nazan
Ölçer & Ali Konyal |
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