TURKISH RUGS

Turkish Pile Rugs: before 1750 Turkish Pile Rugs: 1750-1850 Turkish Flatweaves Anatolian Yastiks 1 Anatolian Yastiks 2 Anatolian Yastiks 3 Anatolian Yastiks 4 Anatolian Yastiks 5 Anatolian Yastiks 6 Anatolian Yastiks 7 Central Asia 1 Central Asia 2 Central Asia 3 Central Asia 4 Central Asia 5 Caucasus 1

Turkish Pile Rugs Before 1750: The Collection of Dennis Dodds and Zinaida Vaganova

CONTACT: dennisdodds@juno.com

BELOW: Western Anatolia, Prayer Rug, Ushak district; late 17th century.

BELOW: Eastern Anatolia, 'Cypress and Medallion' rug, circa 1700-50

BELOW: Konya, 6 x 7 feet, circa 1700

The majestic open field of rose madder centers a solitary small-pattern Holbein type l medallion. The outline of this motif is also seen on a carpet fragment discovered in the Eshrefoglu Mosque in Beyshehir that dates to the 15th century. See Erdmann, K., The History of the Early Turkish Carpet, p. 70, plate 70. Blue-green spandrels carry stylized geometric motifs and a vigorous and bold meandering angular vine of the 'Turkmen Line' type appears in the wide, pale yellow border. The palette, construction and wool quality all point to a central Anatolian origin, possibly Cappadocia. This open, spacious layout represents a village version of a 16th century style. A similar example is in the Turk ve Islam Museum in Istanbul, identified as western or central Anatolia, 17th or 18th century.

BELOW: Western Anatolia, "Crivelli" type, first half of the 18th century

BELOW: Central Anatolia, circa 1700.

A classic 2-1-2 layout of the Large-Pattern Holbein type IV variant dominates the strong red field of this small format rug that is punctuated with sparkling colors of yellow, pale blue and green. A pale aubergine purple elegantly complements the palette. Ornamentation around the perimeter of the central octagonal medallion indicate an earlier style. In later renditions of this Holbein group, stiff, angular latch-hooks often replaced the more gracefully curved voluted extensions. The weave, with its dense, compact, shiny wool, and red wefting, together with the rosette border elements, recall two early fragments in The Turk ve Islam Museum in Istanbul, each dated to the 17th-18th century. The rug's size, 3.6x4.2 feet, suggests that it was possibly exported to Europe where aristocrats and wealthy merchants used them as table covers as early as the 15th century. The rug was in a Swedish collection and formerly in the possession of Perez in London, long known for handling great carpets from the Classical peiod.

BELOW: An unusual and dramatic Turkish rug from central Anatolia and possibly woven in one of the villages around Aksaray. In 1999, a German collector showed me several images of later rugs of a similar type that he had discovered in a mosque in that vilayet. This is an early piece and is probably the second oldest example that I have seen of this design. The oldest one -- on an ivory ground -- was formerly in the possession of Franz Sailer, then of Salzburg, who published it in an exhibition catalogue for TEFA in Maastricht in the early 1990s. He identified it as Aksaray, early 17th century. This rug likely dates around 1700, or earlier.