| |
2
Probably Western Anatolia
Fragment of a "Transylvanian" Rug,
1st half of the 17th century
This fragment includes part of
the field and side border of a "Transylvanian" rug, named for the
district (now in central Romania) where many rugs with similar
designs were found in the early 1900s. During the 17th and 18th
centuries, it was customary for wealthy families of the area to
donate these rugs to local Protestant churches, which displayed and
preserved them.
"Transylvanian" rugs are usually
thought to have been woven in western Turkey, but minority opinion
ascribes them to Ottoman- controlled areas of southeastern Europe.1
They were exported in substantial numbers
to western Europe, and some made their way to colonial America.2
When intact, this rug had a
"double niche" field that contained angular, flowering vines
cascading or climbing from vases at each end. Its main border design
of alternating cartouches and eight-pointed stars is shared by other
"Transylvanian" rugs of early manufacture; later examples have only
a series of cartouches. The red and brown reciprocal trefoils
flanking the main border are also replaced by other designs on later
rugs.3
Like many other elements of early Ottoman
rugs, however, these reciprocals have survived in 19th-century
Anatolian weaving - reused, for instance, in the end panels of a
western Anatolian yastik in this exhibition (cat. no. 6).
J.B.
1. For the two views see, respectively, Jon Thompson, "Transylvanian
Rugs: a Distinctive but Controversial Group," in The Sarre Mamluk,
London, Lefevre & Partners, May 23, 1980, pp. 18-21; and Ellis, nos.
31-33, pp. 92-101.
2. For example, an early
"Transylvanian" rug, with similar borders and field but different
corner design, is depicted in Thomas de Keyset's Portrait of
Constantijn Huygens and his Clerk, dated 1627, London, National
Gallery (reproduced in John Mills, Carpets in Paintings,
London, National Gallery, 1983, pl. 28). Also see the essay, "Early
Rug Collectors of New England," in this catalogue, p. 13, and note
I.
3. For comparable examples of
intact rugs, see The Sarre Mamluk, pp. 24- 25, and Roland
Gilles, et al., Tapis: Present de I'Orient a I'Occident,
Paris, Institut du Monde Arabe, 1989, pp. 124-125.
|
|
| |
|
Structural
Analysis |
|
SIZE: |
47 x
23 1/2 in. (119.4 x 59.7 cm.) |
|
WARP: |
wool, Z2S,
depressed; ivory, bottom dipped yellow |
|
WEFT: |
wool, z x 2-3;
light red |
|
PILE: |
wool, Z2S,
symmetrical knots pulled to the left,
h. 10, v. i2, 120 k/sq. in.; ivory, tan, dark brown,
light brown, red, gold, light gold,
green, blue-green, blue, light blue |
|
ENDS: |
missing |
|
SIDES: |
missing |
| |
|
| NOTE: Although
"Transylvanian" rugs are reported by some authorities to have
pile knotted in single strands of z-spun yarn (see Ellis, as
cited above), two very loosely z-spun (and indiscernibly
s-plied) strands of yarn were observed to have been used for
all the pile colors of this rug except the browns, which
appeared to be z singles. |
|
|
