Posts Tagged ‘persian carpets’

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