carpets

The Seljuk Han of Anatolia

Seljuk textiles and carpets

Textiles
The fragile and unforgiving nature of textiles has not encouraged many examples to survive until the present time, and thus very little is known about the weaving activity of the Seljuk period. There are some references of made by contemporary writers that fabrics were offered as gifts by the Sultan. One reference mentioned a silk fabric with metallic thread made in Antalya, which was sent to the Ilkhanid ruler in Iran in 1258. Another reference states that some 2,000 rolls of brocaded silk from Erzincan were sent to the Ilkanhid ruler Rashid al-Din. Marco Polo relates that he saw a quantity of "fine and rich silks in crimson" and states that spices and silk cloth was traded from the interior of Anatolia to the Mediterranean, whence they were shipped to Venice and Genoa. It was probably the Seljuks who introduced the cultivation of silkworms to Anatolia. Several Seljuk animal rugs have emerged from ruined Tibetan monasteries, which shows that Turkish Anatolian carpets were traded far and wide, in the East, as well as the West, from this period onwards.

What remains today from this legendary production is but one silk fabric. This splendid fragment, dated 1218-19, bears the name of Alaeddin Keykubad in its border. Truly worthy of its namesake, it has a pattern of repeating tangent roundels containing adossed lions (symbol of the Sultanate) woven in gold thread on a pinkish-crimson field. The lions are rendered in a vibrant and powerful fashion, with accentuated musculature, tongues, tails and claws, in a style reminiscent of the metalwork of the period. Whether it was woven in Anatolia or received as a gift cannot be determined. How it arrived in Europe and to the Abbey in Auvergne where it was found is also unknown. Once in Europe, it was unfortunately cut and styled as a vestry garment, and one can assume that it originally served as a garment for Alaeddin Keykubad himself. Restored in 1993, it is now preserved in the Textile Museum of Lyon, France (inv. no. 23.475). Another fabric, now in the Berlin Kunstgewerbe Museum (no. 81475), is attributed as a 13th century Seljuk work by stylistic comparison with the Lyon piece.

Konya rug, 13th c., Konya Ethnological Museum

Konya rug from Beyşehir, 13th c., Konya Ethnological Museum

Konya rug, 13th. c, Istanbul Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art (TIEM)

Konya rug, 13th. c, Istanbul Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art (TIEM)

Konya Carpet, Istanbul Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art (TIEM)

Konya Carpet, Istanbul Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art (TIEM)

Konya Carpet, Istanbul Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art (TIEM)

Carpets
The art of weaving carpets of knotted pile is believed to be of Central Asian origin, and archeologists have found examples dating from the 3rd c. BC. Suited to the nomadic way of life, carpets served a variety of uses as tent furnishings, door covers, eating cloths, pillows, food storage bags, sleeping mats, etc. Although the Great Seljuks began weaving carpets in the 11th century, there are no remaining carpet fragments of this period. The Anatolian Seljuks are considered to have continued this tradition of carpet weaving, an activity that was to become of immense importance later in the Ottoman period.

Carpet weaving was developed to a high-level by the Anatolian Seljuks. The oldest examples of carpets woven in Anatolia with the symmetrical ghiordes knot and surviving to the present day are dated to the 14th century. Unfortunately, there are only some 18 Seljuk carpets and fragments in existence today. They are known as the "Seljuk Carpets" or by the preferred term "Konya Carpets", as they were probably woven there. These rugs are of special importance as they represent some of the oldest surviving Islamic knotted rugs. They are housed in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in Istanbul, the Mevlana Museum in Konya, the Ethnology Museum in Konya (10 pieces altogether in Turkey), in several European museums (7 pieces), and 1 in a private collection in England (The Edmond De Unger Keir Collection in London).
There is, however, abundant written evidence that carpet-weaving was an important industry in Seljuk times in Konya, Sivas, Kayseri and Aksaray and that carpets were exported to Europe. Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo, both traveling in Anatolia in the 13th century, mention the fineness of the carpets they saw, and the former mentions that they were being exported to Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Persia, India and China. Carpets were no doubt among the precious goods carried by the trade caravans: the remains of Seljuk rugs found at Fostat in Cairo attest to the fact that they were exported far and wide.

The rugs, woven in the symmetrical Turkish ghiordes knot, are in a distinctive ton sur ton palette of various shades of red, brown, ochre, green and blue. This subtle use of two shades of the same color is a noteworthy feature, as it does not appear in later Turkish rugs. The colors of the rugs still sparkle brightly to this day, as wool was treated with natural vegetal dyes.

Seljuk carpets are often of considerable size (2-3 m X 5-6 m long). Made of sheep’s wool, they all used a white weft. They have a relatively coarse weave, with 36-50 knots per square inch. It can be thought that rugs were woven in many places in Anatolia, although Marco Polo, traveling in Turkey in 1272, specifically mentions the "Beautiful rugs of Konya and Karaman".

The 18 known "Konya" rugs are an odd group and pose many questions to rug scholars as they do not compare to other known groups, and are among themselves quite varied. Like Seljuk architecture, they display a noble, dignified severity in their design, yet are animated with great vibrancy and power. They display the following design characteristics:

their designs, eclectic in nature, are not conceived as a unified pattern within the format of the carpet, but instead are infinite repeating patterns, arbitrarily cut by the border of the carpet
geometrical designs dominate
designs elements include stars and rosettes, stylized bird and animal forms, lozenges and other geometric patterns, and borders of large, dramatic kufic lettering
a marked juxtaposition of small and large-scale patterns, much as in Seljuk architectural stone carving
designs are roughly executed: corner articulations improvised and patterns are often not centered.

The information concerning rugs woven during the Seljuk era comes from 3 important discoveries of rugs at Konya, Beyşehir and Fostat. Once thought to have been woven in the 13th century, modern scholars now attribute the rugs found at these 3 places to the 14th century. These discoveries rate as some of the most exciting in the history of Islamic decorative arts. They are:

-1905: The researcher F.R. Martin (or by the German Consul General, Loytved, according to some) discovered a group of rugs in a dark corner of the Alaeddin Mosque in Konya and which are considered to date from the expansion of the mosque in 1220. The find comprised 3 complete carpets and 5 fragments. It was first assumed that they were woven between 1220 and 1250, but current scholars believe that date to be 75-100 years too early. Watercolor paintings of these rugs were commissioned at the time of their discovery by the vizier of Konya, and their publication by Martin in 2 volumes in Europe in 1907-8 caused great excitement in the scientific world. These rugs are now in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art in Istanbul and the Ethnographical Museum of Konya. One stunning example has a dramatically powerful border of kufic writing which explodes off the main field.

-1930: The American Professor R.M. Riefstahl discovered a group of 3 rugs in the Eşrefoğlu Mosque in Beyşehir in 1930. The mosque was built in 1296. One rug carries a date of 1298. They are very similar in style, technique, color and design to the Alaeddin rugs. These rugs are now in the Mevlana Museum of Konya.

-1935-36: the Swedish art historian Carl J. Lamm discovered 100 Anatolian rug fragments dating from the 13-16th centuries in the excavations of the garbage heaps of Fostat in Cairo, of which 7 are to be considered Seljuk, and which were probably woven in Aksaray. They show geometric decorations similar to Seljuk stone and woodwork. The felicitous design concept shows main fields are dark blue and red with design motives (lozenges and stars) in light yellow or green. These carpets were taken to Europe and dispersed to several museums.

Highly prized in Europe, especially by the Venetians and Florentines, Turkish carpets are often seen in European religious paintings of the Renaissance. The rugs are depicted in a standard representation, that is, shown under the feet of the Virgin as she sits in a throne-like chair with the infant Jesus on her lap, surrounded by worshipping patrons. This representation attests to the perceived precious nature of these rugs, considered luxurious enough to adorn the Virgin's surroundings. These paintings are for the most part dated, so they have provided a fairly reliable terminus ante quem timeframe for the rugs depicted. We cannot know of course if the rug depicted is contemporary or predates the painting, but the frame does provide reliable dating hooks. There are no representations in Italian paintings of Turkish carpets before approximately 1420, and those that are represented do not resemble the Seljuk rugs. The emerging Ottoman rug repertoire unfolds in these paintings. So, we can only speculate about the designs and production of rugs during the period between the rugs of the 3 finds (approximately 1300) and these first datable representations in European paintings. The only precise idea of what must have been the Seljuk style can be imagined from studying the rugs of the 3 famous discoveries discussed above and by a comparison with the design program of Seljuk ceramics and stonecarving.