Posts Tagged ‘Islamic’

COVERED GOBLET IN FILIGREE
Probably Venice, IiaK, laic iftthorcarly 171I1
century. III. J30 mm (13 in.)
(See also colour photograph 0)
Stangenglas in filigree glass
Germany,-lale 16th century
lit. 300-J mm (1206 in.)
Filigree glass first came into use in Venice
in the second quarter of the 16th century,
and is referred to in Hiringuccio’s De la
Piroiechnica (1540). It is still made
there today, by means of the following
method. First, a stock of glass rods con-
taining decorative (usually opaque white)
twists is prepared. Small canes of opaque
white glass are heated and laid on a gather
of clear, colourless glass. These are mar-
vered into the surface, and a fresh gather
is made, so they arc embedded in the ‘gob’.
This is reheated, swung so that it lengthens,
and another rod is attached to its other
end. One man stands and rotates his rod to
give the pattern a twist. The man holding
the other end walks quickly backwards,
until the twisting gob has stretched 20 feet
or so. I leated lengths of rod are then laid
out on a metal plate. A gather of clear,
colourless glass is flattened into a disc,
then rolled along the rods, picking them up
to form a rough cylinder.
In the next stage of making filigree glass,
the rods are bedded together by being
rolled on a flat slab. The cylinder is swung
like a pendulum, to extend the glass. The
end is then cut oft”, and the cylinder is
closed, so that when it is blown the walls
become thin and smooth. A vessel is
formed from this cylinder. Thus, by
reheating and blowing an assembly ol rods
containing opaque white twists, the Vene-
tians formed vessels having a delicate white
filigree pattern within their thin walls. To
accomplish this took years of training.
The Romans made bowls by winding a
heated rod enclosing white threads spirally
on a mould and joining it by reheating, a
technique that has been called ‘filigrane
glass’.
The technique of making filigree glass
was in widespread use, and continued long
in fashion. Note the filigree ornament on
the typically German glass form illus-
trated.
FILIGREE CANES OR STEMS
Illustration taken from Mantis uj’ Classmakmg in
All Ages, by Alexander Sauzay (London, 1870)
Filigree canes were used both in the pro-
duction of filigree vessels and for simple
use as stems of wine-glasses and the like.
The actual making of the canes themselves
demanded a high degree of craftsmanship
on the part of the workers. Georges Bon-
temps of the glass factory of Choisy-le-Roy
in 1823 published a work describing some
of the Venetian techniques in the produc-
tion of filigree glass. To produce the
filigree canes, he explained, a cylindrical
mould in cither metal or fireclay was lined
with canes of coloured glass alternating
with rods of clear colourless glass. The
glass-maker next took a gather of glass on
the end of his blow-pipe which he fash-
ioned into a cylinder shape to fit into the
mould. He inserted this into the heated
mould and pressed the cylinder against the
rods which adhered to it. After marvering,
the end of the cylinder was then heated and
held with the pincers.
The glass-maker rolled his pipe with his
left hand, which caused the rod to form a
spiral with the coloured canes on the
outside; this was cut into the desired
lengths. If an internally spiralling line was
required inside a cane, a small solid
cylinder was first prepared in clear colour-
less glass, and a coloured cane attached to
its side. A further gather of glass was taken
to cover this, to make a larger cylinder
shape to go into the mould which held the
coloured canes, as before. As the small
coloured cane was not in the centre of the
cylinder, upon being twisted it assumed a
spiral shape down the centre of the
column. The other coloured rods spiralled
on the outer surface of the column, pro-
ducing a delicate and delightful effect. The
variations on the theme of opaque twists
and colour twists can be seen particularly
well in English 18th-century wine-glass
stems.
Adding: The Glass-maker’s Skill
CHAMPAGNE GLASS WITH ENGRAVED BOWL AND
DOUBLE LOOPED STEM CONTAINING TWISTED
COLOURED THREADS
George Bacchus & Sons, England, about 1850
Hi. 127 mm (5 in.)
In the early 19th century the decorative
arts in England were looking back to past
styles for inspiration. At first, glass in
England was little affected, owing mainly
to the glass-makers’ ignorance of the
historic glass styles. By the 1840’s, how-
ever, Venetian glass was considered re-
spectable for imitation. English glass-
makers’ notions of Venetian techniques
were to begin with rather vague, although
they probably improved a little after the
exhibition of Venetian glass in the Society
of Arts exhibition of Mediaeval Art in 1850.
During the years immediately preceding
the 1851 exhibition the practice was
revived of incorporating glass canes, both
opaque white and coloured, with the body
of the vessel. This hailed back to the days
of Venetian glass and the glass of 18th-
century England. Multi-coloured filigree
canes were used for stems of wine-glasses,
and sometimes the stems themselves were
twisted in Venetian styles, as above.
COMPOTIER IN ‘VENETIAN FILIGREE’
Made by John Northwood for Stevens & Williams,
England, about 1887. Ht. 20T mm (8 in.)
The firms of George Bacchus & Sons,
Birmingham, and Apsley Pcllatt’s Falcon
Glass-house in Southwark, London, pro-
duced wine-glasses with colour twist stems
in the mid-19th century. The Venetian
influence was also felt by the firm of
W. H., B. & J. Richardson of Stourbridge,
who exhibited an item with a ‘threaded
Venetian stem’ in the Society of Arts
Exhibition in 1849. From 1849 onwards
the firm of Rice Harris & Son of Birming-
ham made threaded glass, and twisted
stems were a feature of Lloyd & Summer-
field’s display at the 1851 Exhibition.
After Antonio Salviati’s exhibition of
revived Venetian techniques in Paris in
1867 manufacturers were fully aware of
the historical methods of production.
However, exact reproductions of Venetian
w;ork were rarely attempted in England for
the general market, probably because of
the unsuitability of the English lead-
crystal glass. An exception is this ‘Venetian
filigree’ compotier made by John North-
wood for Stevens & Williams
most popular designs
was the so-called ‘folded handkerchief,
where a square of glass decorated with
filigree was loosely ‘folded’ into the shape
of a vase. Vcnini, who died in 1959, was
one of the most important artists in glass
in recent times. In 1921 he entered a
partnership with Giacomo Cappcllin and
established the firm of ‘Vctri Soffiati,
Muranesi (lappellin-Venini & G’ pro-
ducing glass based on old Venetian pic-
tures. After a successful showing at the
Paris Exhibition in 1925 Vcnini estab-
lished his own factory, ‘Vcnini and C.\ in
Murano, discarded his earlier purism and
began to exploit the effects of colour and
texture in glass. He revived old Venetian
techniques, such as filigree and mosaic
work. At the time of his death his factory
consisted ol mure than .1 hundred glass-
blowers, who were experienced in most of
the ancient techniques. It was his aim to
join the old glass-making techniques with
modern Italian taste.
ewe* in millejiori oi ass with sii.VFJt-Gll.t mounts
Venice, Italy, 10th century, lit. 126 mm (495 in.)
Millefiori Glass: The name ‘millejiori1 (a
thousand flowers) was first given to mosaic
glass when the technique was taken up at
Venice in Renaissance times. The first
chapter covers the technique of mosaic
glass, in which vessels were produced by
fusing cut sections of glass rods held on to
a core with an outer mould, and then
ground and polished on both sides. The
term millejiori has, however, been applied
in retrospect to some of those Roman
mosaic glasses, where the fragments were
of rosette-like design. Egyptian craftsmen,
who for centuries were so skilled in the
mosaic technique, were later attracted to
the courts of tbe early Islamic rulers. It is
reasonably certain they were practising
1 heir technique in the 9th century A.D. at
the Abbasid court at Samarra, where finds
of mosaic glass (probably used as wall
decoration) were discovered by German
archaeologists in 1912 14.
vase in millefiori glass
E. Barovicr, Venice, Italy, late, ioth century
Ht. 203 mm (8 in.)
(See also colour photograph 10)
The millefiori glass of the Venetians, which
closely resembles Roman mosaic glass, was
produced by a different method. The
sections of glass rod were made in the
usual way, but were then embedded in a
gather of clear colourless or clear pale blue
glass, which was then blown to its final
shape. The difference in technique can be
seen more clearly in the vase illustrated,
made at the Barovier glass-house in
Murano in the late 19th century. The
simple floral decoration, in green, blue and
red glass sections, is set into a background
of sections of turquoise encircling clear
colourless glass, the whole embedded in
clear colourless glass. The general effect is
of a network of glass, rather than of
individual sections floating in a clear
colourless background. The vase is signed
‘E. Barovier, Murano’, so is presumably
the work of Ercolc Barovier (b.1889), who
helped to create the modern style of Italian
glass-making together with Paolo Venini
(1895-1959).
vase in millefiori glass
Clichy, France, c. 1845-50. Ht. 245 mm (9-63 in.)
The making of millefiori glass was not con-
fined to Italy. There is evidence that such
vessels were made in Silesia and other
areas of Central Europe in the 18th
century. The Hoffhungstal Works in
Silesia were producing millefiori vessels in
1833, and later they were made at Schone-
beck near Magdeburg. The French crafts-
men of Clichy, St. Louis and Baccarat
produced excellent millefiori glass in the
19th century; the articles included paper-
weights, inkstands, pen-rests, wafer-stands
and rulers. The vase illustrated is a rare
and beautiful example of Clichy millefiori
glass, having the name ‘Clichy’ enclosed in
a tiny cane within the design. This French
glass is notable for the quality of work-
manship, harmony of colour and beauty of
design. France’s superiority in the making
of vessel glass was a comparatively late
development. Her craftsmen had been
pre-eminent in the making of stained and
painted window glass, and later of mirror
glass, but it was only in the 19th century
that they matched their achievements in
vessel glass..
PAPERWEIGHT
Probably Rice Harris & Son, England, about 1850
Diam. 70 mm (275 in.)
DISH IN GLASS
by Antonio Salviali, Italy, f.1880
Diam. 178 mm (7 in.)
Of all the novelties in glass of mid-iQth
century England, the best remembered is
the millejiori paperweight. At the time they
were made they, were considered to be of
little importance, and were more likely to
be sold in a stationers’ shop than at a glass-
dealers’. Probably the firms that made
filigree or threaded stems experimented
with paperweights, but it is known that the
firm of George Bacchus & Sons of Birm-
ingham were making millejiori paper-
weights in 1848 and 1849. From a reference
in the An Journal in 1849 it seems that the
firm of Rice, Harris & Son of Birmingham
were also producing them at this time. As
the Rice Harris works were also known as
the Islington Glass Works, it seems reason-
able that weights found with canes lettered
IGW came from this factory, as in the
example illustrated. The fashion for paper-
weights came from France, whence they
were imported to England in great num-
bers.
In the 19th century, Renaissance styles of
glass-making were revived in Italy. The
old Venetian colour techniques were re-
vived about 1830, and by i860 Antonio
Salviati (1816-1900) had started a large-
scale commercial production of glass in
traditional styles. Much extravagant and
sentimental work was done, Salviati’s
forms being gaudy in colour and over-
elaborate. Most of the other Muranese
glass-makers followed him in making
pastiches of i6th-and 17th-century Vene-
tian glass, aimed at the tourist market. At
the same time there was a small production
of simpler glass wares in Venice, with
Salviati producing plain shapes in clear
colourless glass with applied decoration.
He was also known for his straightforward
copies of the old classic colour techniques
of Venice, such as the millejiori dish
illustrated. After the First World War,
Functionalist ideas gave a new stimulus to
the traditionalism of Venetian glass-mak-
ing and a truly modern style was estab-
lished, notably by Paolo Vcnini and
Ercole Barovier.
IRIDESCENT millefiori VASE PAPERWEIGHT VASE WITH CROCUS DESIGN
By Tiffany, U.S.A., late 19th century/early 20th By Tiffany, U.S.A. Ht. 16; mm (0-5 in.)
century. Ht. 279 mm (11 in.)
Louis Comfort Tiffany at his works in
Corona, Long Island, U.S.A., produced
many kinds of glassware between 1.1885
to 1924. Among these was millefiori glass
of a style not seen before. Tiffany’s love of
natural floral effects can be seen in this
work. Millefiori rods as intricately and
beautifully made as any on the Continent
were produced at his works and put to use-
in many different ways by Tiffany crafts-
men. The size of the rods ranged from \
inch to 4-5 inches in diameter. Small
white millefiori florets with red, green,
yellow or blue centres were embedded in
the outer surface of glass vases and bowls,
and were marvered-in to a smooth finish.
Green glass leaves and tendrils were added
as decoration to create the illusion of
flowering vines. The natural fluidity of his
work can be seen in the example illustrated.
A variation, and a most beautiful one, on
the technique of millefiori was Tiffany’s
so-called ‘Paperweight glass’. Lengths of
millefiori rod were used to simulate coral
growths, aquatic plants, morning glories,
narcissus, daffodils. Queen Anne’s lace,
animals and a host of other motifs. These
coloured decorative glass designs were
laid upon and embedded in an inner layer
of glass, with another gather of clear glass
coating over the original decorated piece.
Sometimes the inner layer of glass was
made iridescent before it received its outer
layer, which caused a lovely mirror-like
shimmering effect. The outer layer of glass
was also frequently made slightly irides-
cent. Occasionally patterns were engraved
into paperweight glass, giving striking
depth to the piece. The predominant
motifs in the paperweight technique are
floral and under-water marine life. They
are probably the rarest of the Tiffany
techniques, and the most difficult to find.
Aventurine Glass: The Venetians are
credited with the invention of Aventurine
glass. In appearance it is generally yellow-
ish, with a sparkle to it suggestive of
sprinkled gold dust. No one knows exactly
how the Venetians made this attractive
glassware, but the results of more recent
experiments may throw some light on
their methods. In i860 the French chemist
Hautefeuille made Aventurine glass by
adding iron or fine brass turnings enclosed
in paper to the hot glass. The glass turned
red and opaque, and then became milky
and full of bubbles. The furnace draught
was cut off and the covered crucible
containing the glass covered with ashes.
After being slowly cooled, the pot was
broken and the Aventurine glass taken out.
In 1865 another chemist, Pelouze, made
Aventurine equal to that of the Venetians
by using 250 parts of sand, 100 of carbonate
of soda, 50 of carbonate of lime and 40 of
bichromate of potash.
Aventurine glass was sold in rods or large
pieces to foreign factories by Venetian
glass-makers. These were broken down
and crushed into various sizes for use as a
decorative material. Green (chrome), pink
(chrome in the presence of tin) and bronze
Aventurine can be found in English,
Continental and American glassware of
the 19th century. More recently, the
Fostoria Glass Company of Moundsville,
West Virginia, made green Aventurine
glass by supersaturating a high lead glass
with chrome oxide. The chrome oxide
dissolved into the glass during the melt,
but as the glass cooled it could not hold all
the chrome oxide in solution so that crys-
tals formed in the glass; these were large
enough to reflect light and so gave the
Aventurine appearance. Aventurine is also
supposed to have been made by the addi-
tion of copper to the mix. Aventurine has
been called ‘Glass of the Golden Star’ by
the Chinese, and is also known as ‘Gold-
stone’.
JUG with trailed decoration
Egypt, second quarter of the 15th century B.C.
Ht. 88′mm (3-45 in.)
Only a skilled glass-maker could have pro-
duced the decorative effects described in the
last chapter, but much added decoration
found on glass vessels is the result of I he art
of the decorator, and owes little to actual
glass-making technology. The expertise of
the decorator in the ornamentation oj glass
vessels can be seen in the enamelling, painting
and gilding techniques, in their various
forms. Indeed, the decorator has been
involved in the ornamentation oj glass from
earliest times; it was an enameller’s hand
that decorated one of I he oldest known glass
vessels of Egypt. A purist might consider the
decoration of glass by the actual glass-maker
more valid than by the decorator, but as these
two chapters show, there has been a place for
both through the ages.
Enamelled Class: The art of enamelling
glass is a technique which can be dated
definitely back to the 15th century B.C.
The small Egyptian jug illustrated, bear-
ing the name of the Egyptian Pharaoh
Tuthmosis III, is the earliest enamelled
glass known to us. It is in opaque light blue
glass with yellow, white and dark blue
opaque trails and with white and yellow
powdered glass fired on in the manner of
enamel. It has been core-formed, with a
ground and polished surface on the rim
and underneath the base. The hieroglyphic
inscription on the shoulder, part of which
can be seen, translated, reads: ‘The good
god Men-Kheper—Re, given life’. Tuth-
mosis III (c. 1504-1450 B.C.) was one of
the most powerful of the Pharaohs of the
1 Si h I )ynasty and under him flourished all
cultural activities, including glass-making.
Enamel is in essence a low-firing glass
crushed to powder, which can be painted
on to a vessel, with the aid of a bonding
agent like honey. It can be fused to the
vessel at a lower temperature than will
cause the vessel to warp or sag in the
furnace. Enamelling appeared to be an
isolated phenomenon of the Egyptian 18th
Dynasty and fell into disuse at the end of
the period. It was certainly practised in
Roman times, and one or two different
types of work can be picked out, possibly
belonging to different schools within the
Roman Empire. Motifs include birds,
vines, pygmies, cranes, animals, hunting
scenes and figural subjects. There is no
exact knowledge of how the Romans did
their enamelling, and one can only guess
that they followed later methods of which
something is known. From earliest an-
tiquity there was a trade in cakes or ingots
of glass enamel for the use of less special-
ised glass-makers. Certain colours, notably
turquoise, sealing-wax red and white,
were traded round the world from the
earliest times of glass-making.
EWER, ‘DAPHNE’, IN OPAQUE WHITE GLASS WITH
ENAMELLING AND GILDING
Possibly Antioch, Syria, late 2nd to early 3rd
century A.D. III. 222 mm (875 in.)
Perhaps the most remarkable example of
Roman enamelling and gilding is the so-
called ‘Daphne’ ewer, now in The Corning
Museum of Glass, New York. It was
probably made in Antioch on the Orontes
in Syria. Antioch was a large city and a
centre for culture and wealth for many
hundreds of years, and the vase could have
been one of the luxury items the city
produced. The vase itself is made of opaque
white glass, richly enamelled and gilded
with a scene that depicts the story of
Daphne, who was turned by her protecting
father into a tree when the pursuing love-
sick Apollo tried to touch her. The
inscription on the shoulder, translated,
reads: ‘The Beautiful’, referring to the
lovely Daphne. The earliest written men-
tion of the techniques of enamelling comes
in the work De Diversis Artibus (Concern-
ing Divers Arts), compiled by the monk
Theophilus, probably in the first half of
the 12th century A.D. (Continued)

Antique 19th Century Spanish and Portuguise Furniture.
ON THE IBERIAN PENINSULA, styles from
countries that had close relationships with Spain and Portugal, in particular, Morocco, were fused with a dominant French aesthetic. This resulted in
distinctive, solid furniture peppered with lighter touches.
SPANISH FUSION
“Isabellino” furniture was the Spanish interpretation of the French Second Empire style. Richly decorated with contrasting colours, it was more
exuberant than its French counterpart, and its symmetry allies it more closely with the Baroque than with the Rococo revival that swept across the rest of
Europe. Pieces made for the court of Isabella 11 (1833-68) were the most sumptuous of all and set the agenda for the aspiring merchant classes.
The use of mother-of-pearl inlays, frequently in geometric patterns, was very widespread. Other fashionable decorative elements included mounts of bronze or gilded wood, and painted decoration applied directly to the timber. Classical motifs, including carved putti and acanthus leaves, were also commonly used.
Openwork carving often made use of themes drawn from Morocco, Spain’s closest neighbour to the south, and one that has lent a distinctive
Islamic twist to the Spanish decorative arts for centuries. Moorish forms and decoration, such as woven upholstery and turned spindles, were widespread throughout Spain during this period. In fact, Moroccan influence was by now so well established that it broadened to include elements from other Islamic cultures.
Isabella It’s bedroom at the Palacio Real, Aranjuez The solidity of the dark wood furniture and fittings is offset by the sumptuous gilded carving that adorns the bed.
SPANISH MOORISH DRESSING TABLE
This walnut and ebony dressing table is inlaid with intarsia. The cabinet is surmounted by an arched mirror, at the base of which are two small drawers. A frieze drawer sits above a pair of panelled doors, which enclose a fitted interior. The case stands on block feet with casters. Mid 19th century.
SPANISH CABINET
The parquetry top of this tortoiseshell, mother-of-pearl, and walnut cabinet has projecting corners. The case has seven drawers, flanked by free-standing columns, and arranged around a central door and two drawers below. The Moorish influence is apparent in the Arab-style
design. Mid 19th century.
PORTUGUESE COMMODE
This is one of a pair of carved Rosewood petite commodes. The exaggerated waisted shape is a very common Portuguese form during this period. The ball-and-claw feet on cabriole legs are taken from mid 18th-century English designs. Late 19th century.
PORTUGUESE CENTRE TABLEPORTUGUESE SIDE TABLE
This centre table is made of rosewood and is in the style of those popular in the late 17th century. The rectangular table top has brass mounts at the corners and the frieze is fitted with drawers and dummy drawers. It stands on bulbous, twist-carved legs joined by twisted stretchers. c.1880.
This side table is made of stained walnut. Beneath the plain top is a single frieze drawer. The overall form, with its H-stretcher and central uprights, is 17th-century French, but the style of carving gives it a Portuguese provenance.
Cyrillic script betrays the central Asian provenance of some Moorish furniture constructed in Spain at this time. Carpets used as upholstery were sourced from the Tekke of Turkestan, for example. Heavy silver adornments were another decorative element borrowed From this part of the world.
The drawing-room suite, usually comprising a sofa and a pair of armchairs, became extremely popular in Spanish homes during this period. The occasional table continued to enjoy the popularity it had won in the earlier “Fernandino” period. Around 1870, Ater a period of civil war that Followed the end of Isabellas reign, designers
began to seek inspiration in traditional Spanish furniture from the 16th and 17th centuries.
PORTUGUESE ASSIMILATIONS The Portuguese had suffered greatly Lit the hands of Napoleon’s Forces but had been impressed by a system of government that freed them from the yoke of a repressive monarchy. Rebellion and civil war plagued the reigns of Maria 11, Pedro V, and Luis 1, the rulers of Portugal during the mid 19th century.
French influence had declined after liberation From Napoleon, and designers began to follow the work
of British cabinet-makers more closely. As a result, features such as the cabriole leg and paw foot became widespread in Portuguese furniture. Another important outside influence came from Germany. The Portuguese embraced the Fading Biedermeier style through Maria 11, who had a number of German consorts.
Towards the end of the century, Spain began to embrace styles based on the more distant past of their own peoples, while Portugal embarked on an
enduring affair with designs from the Joao V period (1706-50). Rosewood continued to be the favoured wood because of Portugal’s colonial interests.
LATIN AMERICAN NEOCLASSICISM The thriving Latin colonies in Central and South America had never been exposed to the French Empire style that had pervaded Europe and from which the bulk of European mid 19th-century furniture had developed. The widespread diaspora of patterns originally drawn by 18th-century masters, such as Chippendale and Hepplewhite, did reach these distant western outposts and were the basis for a Latin American Neoclassical revival. Latin American furniture in the mid 19th century was, therefore, far closer to British forms than that produced on the Iberian mainland.

Antique Turkish Carpets before 1700

The practice of weaving carpets may have been brought to Anatolia by the Seljuks, a Turkic people from Central Asia who ruled Anatolia from 1077 to 1307. Eight fragmented 13th-century Seljuk carpets were found in the Aladdin Mosque, Konya, in 1905. Some are enormous (6m/nearly 20ft long), several are decorated with geometric floral designs based on Chinese silk brocades, and all have wide borders of stylized Kufic script. These carpets are now in the Turkish and Islamic Museum in Istanbul. Of extraordinary graphic power and grandeur, they reflect a highly developed and sophisticated awareness of weaving as an art form.
THE OTTOMANS
The Ottomans, also originally Turks from Central Asia, established themselves in Turkey in the late 13th century. They took Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1453 and ruled until 1922. At the height of its power the Ottoman Empire extended from Egypt to Hungary.
Most surviving court weavings date from the 16th and 17th centuries. Early carpets show the geometric gul medallion) patterns that derive from the Central Asian tradition. The “Memling” gul (named after the 1 5th German painter Hans Memling, who depicted similar carpets in his work) consists of an octagon enclosing a stepped hooked medallion. Other carpets use the “Holbein” pattern (named after Hans Holbein the Younger), typically comprising rows of octagonal medallions framed by arabesques, interspersed with smaller lozenges. The distinctive “Lotto” design (after Lorenzo Lotto) is a development of the Chinese brocade designs of the Seljuk carpets; it features stylized yellow fines, leaves, and palmettes on a red ground.
Cairo, colonized by the Ottomans in 1517, had under the previous Mamluk rule (1250-1517) created carpets with dense, all-over geometric designs, usually in green, crimson, and white with a little yellow. Weavers from Cairo may have initially been responsible for the group of finely woven mid-16th-century rugs and carpets that show the development of the true Ottoman court style and are very different from the earlier geometric designs. Motifs include the cintamani (three balls above a pair of wavy lines), which became one of the most popular devices in Ottoman art (found in tiles, textiles, carpets, and metalwork). Other decoration includes cloudbands and lotus palmettes (from Chinese art), large leaves, and the four favourite Ottoman flowers: carnations, tulips, hyacinths, and roses. Many of these motifs appear stylized in 18th- and 19th-century Turkish village rugs.
A “Star” carpet made in Ushak
The star shape of the main medallion originated in China and is also found in 15th- and 16th-century Persian carpets. The repeat pattern, with its incomplete outer medallions, was intended to suggest infinity. (c.1550-1600; I. 1.8m/5ft 11 in; value Q)
In the late 16th and 17th centuries other designs were developed, including the large “medallion” and “star” carpets of Ushak in western Anatolia. Both these types show an endless repeating design cut by borders. The medallion layout, first used in bindings of the Koran, may have been borrowed from the contemporary Persian carpets of Tabriz (Tabriz artists were employed by the Ottoman court). The ground of the medallion carpets, which is of red vines and palmettes on blue, or vice versa, again recalls Chinese textiles. Other motifs are Persian-influenced, taking the form of sprays of flowers and arabesque scrolls. There are a number of border designs, many used interchangeably on the various carpets, including Kufic, cloudbands, palmettes with flower sprays, and floral cartouches. Turkish carpets were highly prized in the West. Many Tudor (1485-1603) portraits depict their subjects standing proudly on their Turkish carpets. European carpets are knotted with the Turkish, or symmetrical, knot in imitation of these early imports. Most Turkish and many Caucasian rugs of the 18th and 19th centuries have designs developed from the Ottoman production of the 15th-17th centuries.
T “Transylvanian” rug made in Ushak
Large quantities of these Turkish rugs were exported to Europe. In Transylvania many were used to decorate Protestant churches in the 17th and 18th centuries -hence their name. This example features stylized mosque lamps.

Antique Turkish Carpets after 1700

The Ottoman tradition of weaving established between the 15th and 17th centuries formed the inspiration for rug production in Turkey in the 19th century. What emerged was the creation of far more commercial rugs and carpets to appeal to a wider, Western audience — products that were still traditional in approach, but more accessible. This commercialization affected both village rug production and town and city workshop production, with designs evolving or being adapted from the earlier classic traditions.
VILLAGE AND NOMADIC PRODUCTION
Rugs woven in villages throughout Turkey share similar design formats, construction, and traditional influences with their Persian and Caucasian neighbours to the East and North, and with those from Central Asia further
East. Village products incorporate essentially geometric design elements, woven on woollen warps and wefts, and made with the Turkish knot. Inspiration is drawn from earlier classic renditions; the guls (medallions) used are frequently similar to guls seen in Turkoman carpets from Central Asia, while the influence of the early “Holbein” rugs is often evident in the shape of the medallions. Designs that were popular in the 18th and 19th centuries are reproduced today in similar formats and contemporary shades, although as is typical throughout the industry, products made after c.1900 lack the individuality and vibrancy of the earlier pieces.
Very little of the Turkish rug production is actually nomadic; most is cooperative and village-based. The Yuruk and the Kurds are two nomadic peoples who weave on their migrations. Rugs from these two groups share similarities with Caucasian Kazak and Karabagh rugs, with their bold, geometric patterns and strong palette. The pile is usually even deeper than in the Caucasian carpets. One of the major differences between the Caucasian and the Turkish village and nomad rugs is the lack of zoomorphic and human forms in the Turkish pieces: the design elements are almost exclusively floral-based.
TOWN PRODUCTION
Like Persian town production, Turkish town rugs and carpets have formal curvilinear designs, and in some centres are woven from cartoons (scale drawings); most production is on cotton or sometimes silk foundations, although town rugs and carpets in Turkey are also woven on woollen foundations. In western Turkey the town of Ghiordes (the name used to describe the Turkish, or symmetrical, knot) was a main weaving centre from the 17th to the early 20th century. Although on a wool foundation, the pile of Turkish town rugs and carpets is finely woven on red- or pink-dyed warps, and a cotton weft is used. Rugs from Ghiordes are often of prayer-rug form; others recall earlier design traditions. Zigzags, hexagonal medallions, and stylized floral motifs are typical. This type of rug design was popular in the 19th century.
Prayer-rugs are widespread in Turkish rug production. Ladik in central Anatolia is famous for those made in the 18th and early 19th centuries, depicting a plain mihrab (prayer niche) supported by a detailed border, presenting a striking image. These rugs also demonstrate the use of design elements adapted from older rugs. The town of Konya, close to Ladik, is also a centre for the production of prayer-rugs. Alternative prayer-rug formats included the use of a double mihrab — again a feature associated with similar rug production from the classic era. Konya produces bold geometric-design rugs very similar in character and colour to Kazak rugs from the Caucasus. Both Ladik and Konya rugs are highly sought after by collectors, due to their powerful and distinctive images.
MASTERPIECES OF TURKISH WEAVING
The town of Hereke, east of Istanbul, is famous for its extremely fine silk rugs with refined, elegant decoration. The finest silk rugs in the world are made there today. At the same time that Hereke started its production (late 19th century), workshops were established in Kum Kapi, the Armenian quarter of Istanbul. Exceptional, finely woven silk rugs were made there by Turkish Armenians who came from the weaving centres of Kayseri and Sivas; technically advanced in the art of rug-weaving, they produced rugs of a quality that had not been seen since the 17th century. They drew their inspiration from the Ottoman court style and the classic 16th-century Persian rugs of the Safavid period (1501-1732). Many of the products from these workshops are signed by the master weavers, with names that are now legendary: Zareh Penyamian, Hagop Kapoudjian, and the Tossounian family. These exquisite masterpieces are highly regarded and command high prices.
WESTERN INFLUENCE
In the late 19th century Western demand for decorative large-scale carpets increased, affecting both Persia and Turkey. Turkish carpet production during the 1890s responded to the new market, and Ushak in western Anatolia produced large, coarsely woven, decorative carpets for the European and American markets. These were often made to order by stores such as Liberty & Co. (est. 1875) in London, and carpets may still be found bearing their labels. Loosely woven on woollen foundations, many of these carpets were of indifferent quality and unattractive, the design most frequently produced being bright red with all-over bold green-andblue lozenges and palmettos: these are often referred to as “Turkey” carpets. However, some attractive products were made, generally based on Persian models of the same period.
• MAIN AREAS OF PRODUCTION Ghiordes, Ladik, Konya,
Hereke, Kum Kapi (Istanbul)
• WEAVE most town pieces are either cotton or silk on a wool foundation; less fine examples are woven in wool
• DESIGNS many patterns take their inspiration from classic prototypes and Persian models; nomadic and semi-nomadic rugs usually feature geometric designs
• COLOURS these vary enormously from bright, vibrant jewel colours to washed-out pastel shades – the latter especially typical of town production pieces; poor examples feature harsh bright colours; modern nomadic and semi-nomadic pieces are characterized by the use of soft pastel shades
• COLLECTING look out for harmonious colour combinations and well-balanced designs; fine silk rugs from Hereke and Kum Kapi are rare, exquisitely made, and usually extremely valuable; it is advisable to buy rare antique rugs only from reputable dealers – the most beautiful examples would have been made for export purposes so it is not usually advisable to travel to the country of production to find the best pieces

Oriental Persian Carpets.

Persian Carpets before 1800.

The origins of pile weaving are obscure, but that it is an ancient skill is proven by a hand-knotted rug found in Pazyryk, southern Siberia, dating from between the 3rd and 5th centuries BC. Fragments of piled weavings (3rd-6th centuries AD) have been found in Xinjiang (eastern Turkestan); others dating mainly from the 13th century have been uncovered at Fostat in Cairo.
By the 13th century rug-weaving was well established it Anatolia and by at least the 15th century pile carpets were mad, in Egypt. Persian carpets are mentioned in 10th-century Aral records, by Marco Polo in the 13th century, and by the 14th-century explorer Ibn Batuta. Paintings of the 14th an( 15th centuries depict weavings similar to early Turkish carpets.
SAFAVID WEAVING
The great trade artery, the Silk Route, ran from Beijing in the east, through eastern and western Turkestan, Persia (Iran), and Turkey, to Europe. Under Timurid rule (1370-1506) Persia established strong links with China, and motifs such as cloudbands, cranes, phoenixes, and dragons were introduced to the Timurid court artists via Chinese textiles and pottery.
The Safavids (1501-1732) conquered Persia in 1501. Tahmasp, the second shah, established royal workshops for weaving carpets and textiles in Kashan, Kirman, Isfahan (now Esfahan), and Tabriz, ushering in the classic age of Persian carpet-weaving. These cities grew into the four great centres of production.
The earliest carpets, from the late 15th to early 16th century, are associated with Tabriz in north-west Persia. They have a large medallion often shaped like a lotus flower with cusped lobes, edged in stylized clouds. cloudbands and arabesques fill the field. As this design developed, the medallion acquired pendants, and animals in combat appeared in the field. Countless variations on this theme are found in 19th- and 20th-century carpets.
The hunting motifs of a magnificent 16th-century silk carpet from the silk-weaving centre Kashan were much borrowed in the 19th and 20th centuries in Tehran, Kirman, Isfahan, and Kashan. The design was popular with mid-20th-century weavers in Qom. Small silk rugs woven in Kashan in the mid-16th century, with a medallion and spandrel design, gave rise to countless modern imitations, many woven in the same city between c.1900 and 1930. In the 17th century, the great Islamic cultural centre of Isfahan in central Persia, under Shah Abbas, produced carpets with all-over designs of vine
tendrils supporting huge palmettes, curled “sickle” or saz leaves (shaped like a scythe blade with a serrated edge), and bold borders. Such designs are often on a strong red ground.
Certain carpets believed to be from Kirman are known as “vase” carpets. Made from the mid-16th to the late 17th century, some pieces depict Chinese-style vases on a trelliswork of vines, palmettes, and leaves. These carpets have a double layer of cotton warps, and three shoots of weft, the middle one silk. All carpets with this unusual structure are called “vase” carpets, even where the vase pattern does not appear. This trellis, palmetto, and leaf pattern was widely copied in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Many classical Persian carpets were exported to the West, and a great number can now be seen in museums. Wool carpets from Isfahan were popular, as were the silk Polonaise, or Polish, rugs originally thought to come from Poland, but in fact from 17th-century Isfahan. They are woven in bright green, blue, red, and ivory, with brocaded areas in silver or gilt metal (a thin strip of metal was wound around a white or yellow silk thread). Early 20th-century rugs from the Kum Kapi district of Istanbul were inspired by these rugs; modern silk and metal thread rugs from Hereke in Turkey are their distant cousins.
• MAIN CENTRES OF PRODUCTION Kashan, Kirman,
Tabriz, and Isfahan
• SCALE most examples are large carpets, although some small rugs were also produced
• WEAVE most are woven in wool or silk, sometimes with metal thread details; some are woven in silk on a silk and cotton foundation
• DESIGNS early Persian carpets were based on cartoons, many of which were drawn by court artists; the designs of these carpets form the basis of most later Persian weaving patterns
• MOTIFS these include cloudbands, hunting motifs, vegetation (palmettes, vines, lotus-flower-shaped designs, and leaves), cranes, phoenixes, and dragons

Persian Carpets after 1800.

The quality and quantity of Persian weaving declined greatly in the 18th and early 19th centuries compared to the fine traditions established in the 16th and 17th centuries. However, from the mid-19th century there was a revival of interest, mainly generated by a renewed Western fashion for Eastern products. Demand was accelerated by easier travel and trade links together with a new awareness which was to a large degree generated by British colonialism. Two distinct styles of carpet production emerged in Persia, both firmly based on earlier traditions: the city and town workshop style, and the tribal and village style. Associated with these were the more commercial carpets created to feed the new Western market.
TOWN AND CITY PRODUCTION
Certain towns and cities are synonymous with carpet weaving in Persia. Tabriz in the north-west, Mashad in the north-east, Isfahan (now Esfahan) and Kashan in central Persia, and Kirman in the south-east are of particular importance. Although there are regional
variations in the uses of colour and in the presentation of the subject-matter, there are several important characteristics in this group that identify the style.
Based on the designs of the earlier classic era (16th-to 17th-century Safavid weavings), the pattern details are essentially curvilinear in form, with particular emphasis on floral design elements. Flower-heads, palmettos (vertically split flowers), and associated vines and foliage are the predominant features, naturalistically drawn to create an image of a colourful garden. Variations on this theme may sometimes include people TRIBAL AND VILLAGE PRODUCTION
Tribal rugs are woven by the various nomadic groups during migrations with their flocks, and have been subject to few outside influences. The tribal tradition of rug-weaving is quite different from that of town manufacture: designs are woven from memory, with patterns passed down from generation to generation, or adapted from other products seen by the weavers on their travels; designs are therefore often highly original. The designs of tribal rugs are always geometric, and represent stylized versions of the more naturalistic drawing seen in town rugs. The geometric patterns are mainly determined by the use of the Turkish knot, which is suited to creating angular lines. Tribal products are woven with a wool pile on wool foundation; being a thick material, wool does not allow for such intricate detail as is possible on the cotton or silk foundations of products made in the towns.
Floral motifs abound and are often highly stylized. Animals, birds, and humans are also often depicted, although they are sometimes barely recognizable. Persian tribal rugs tend to be more densely decorated than their northerly Caucasian neighbours, whose designs are bolder and even more rigidly rectilinear.
The best-known Persian tribal groups are the
Kashgai, the Khamseh, and the Afshar, all of which
use wonderful, jewel-like colours – blues, reds, yellows, greens, and ivory – in all tones. Their work includes all-over designs and medallion formats, and they occasionally produce prayer-rugs. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the products of these three tribes, since they often borrow each other’s ideas.
Technical quality in tribal work can vary enormously, from extremely coarse to extremely fine depending on the experience or competence of the weaver. It is important to note that the value of a piece is not necessarily based on technical fineness, but may also depend on its visual appeal or its individuality. As well as rugs, artifacts such as bags and animal trappings are woven. Carpets are rarely seen, although in some villages around the main marketing towns settled tribespeople weave large-scale pieces.
WESTERN INFLUENCE
In 1882 Ziegler & Co., a British/Swiss firm exporting Persian goods to the West, set up carpet workshops in Sultanabad (now Arak) in north-west Persia. Traditional designs were adapted for the Western market, incorporating bold floral motifs linked by lattice vines and framed within wide borders. Such carpets are highly popular and valuable, although central-medallion carpets of this type are less sought after. A particular Western-led innovation was the employment of the human figure as the main, pictorial element of a design.
• MAIN CENTRES OF PRODUCTION Tabriz, Mashad,
Isfahan, Kashan, Kirman, Heriz, and Senneh
• MAIN TRIBES the Kashgai, the Khamseh, and the Afshar
• TYPES town and city production: mostly rugs and carpets; tribal and village production: smaller wares –rugs and artifacts such as bags and animal trappings are typical; carpets are rare
• WEAVES town and city rugs and carpets are generally finely woven with either wool on a cotton foundation or, sometimes, silk pile on a silk foundation; tribal and village designs are mostly woven in wool on wool
• COLOURS these vary enormously from the broad range of pastels and bright colours used in towns and cities to the bold, jewel-like colours typical of tribal production
• DESIGNS town and city pieces are based on cartoons; curvilinear designs, typically featuring floral motifs, are common; tribal and village rugs and carpets are woven from memory, so no two examples are exactly alike; design and colouring have often been governed by the export market – the use of the human figure as the principal design was mainly inspired by Western tastes
• COLLECTING avoid pieces in shades of orange and garish shades of red; tribal rugs made before 1900 are prized by collectors; modern 20th-century examples are likely to be well made and attractive but lack the individuality in colour and design of older 19th-century pieces; fine tribal weaves can be very valuable