Holbein carpet

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In the history of art, the term Holbein carpet refers to a special type of antique Anatolian knotted carpets , which are characterized by a common color and pattern design. They were made in western Anatolia from the 15th to the 17th century . This group is characterized by a geometric pattern made up of rows of octagons with an inwardly intertwined contour. These alternate with staggered rows of diamond-shaped figures, the contour of which is formed by arabesque leaves. The latter are based on a cross-shaped central motif. The complicated pattern of some carpets also allows the following reading: It is made up of small, rhythmically changing color squares with octagonal fillings and corner bevels.

Verrocchio : Madonna with John the Baptist and Donatus , created between 1475 and 1483. Small-patterned "Holbein" carpet.

Origin of the term

The term was coined by European art historians of the 19th century: Richly designed Islamic carpets made their way to Western Europe in large numbers as commercial goods from the 14th century and exerted a great influence on the painters of the Renaissance . When European art scholars like Wilhelm von Bode began to deal with oriental carpets as an important product of Islamic art towards the end of the 19th century , only a few preserved antique carpets were known. Therefore, research initially focused on the carpets depicted in paintings from the Renaissance period . To classify the different carpet styles and to facilitate understanding, Bode and his successors Friedrich Sarre , Ernst Kühnel and above all Kurt Erdmann used the names of the Renaissance painters on whose paintings the carpets were found. Since the date of creation of the paintings was known, they offer a “ terminus ante quem ” for dating the Islamic carpets depicted on them. Since carpets with the pattern described above are shown in some of the paintings by Hans Holbein the Younger , the carpet type was given the name of this painter.

"Holbein" carpets can already be found on paintings that were painted decades before Holbein. Probably the oldest representation can be found on a fresco by Piero della Francesca in the Cathedral of Rimini from 1451. A similar representation on the San Zeno Altar in Verona by Andrea Mantegna comes from 1460 . The latest known representations are those at the " Conference in Somerset House " of 1608 and a female portrait by Justus Sustermans dated 1655 . “Holbein” carpets were therefore exported to Europe for almost 200 years and depicted on paintings.

Origin of the pattern

The few Anatolian carpets from the time of the Rum Seljuks that have survived before the 14th century differ so clearly from the pattern of the "Holbein" carpets that they cannot be regarded as a further development of the earlier patterns. In 1940, Amy Briggs derived the "Holbein" pattern from book illustrations and Persian miniature paintings from the artistic tradition of the Timurid period : The paintings show carpets with colorful patterns made from geometric ornaments of the same size, often arranged in cassette form and framed by "kufic" borders come from Islamic calligraphy . Timurid patterns have therefore survived both in Persian and Anatolian carpets of the early Safavid and Ottoman times.

Types

Left picture: Small-patterned wooden carpet, 16th century. Right picture: Unknown painter: The Somerset House Conference, August 19, 1604. Left picture: Small-patterned wooden carpet, 16th century. Right picture: Unknown painter: The Somerset House Conference, August 19, 1604.
Left picture : Small-patterned wooden carpet, 16th century.
Right picture : Unknown painter: The Somerset House Conference, August 19, 1604 .
Left picture: Large-patterned "Holbein" carpet, 16th century. Right picture: Detail from Hans Holbein the Elder. J .: The ambassadors, 1533 Left picture: Large-patterned "Holbein" carpet, 16th century. Right picture: Detail from Hans Holbein the Elder. J .: The ambassadors, 1533
Left picture : Large-patterned "Holbein" carpet, 16th century.
Right picture : Detail from Hans Holbein the Elder . J .: The ambassadors , 1533

Kurt Erdmann divided the carpet samples into four types. Holbein himself only painted the lavish types III and IV, for example in the Darmstadt Madonna (1526), ​​in the portrait of the merchant Georg Giese (1532) and in The Ambassadors (1533). Nonetheless, the term “Holbein carpet” was retained among collectors and art historians out of convenience and for easier communication. In fact, "Holbein" patterns are among the most common carpet patterns shown on Renaissance paintings. The types of "Holbein" carpets are:

Type I (small-sized)

The motifs of this type of carpet are small and consist of regular rows of braided motifs derived from octagons with an inner star in a square setting and stylized tendrils at the intersections. The border usually has a delicately intertwined bandwork in white on a colored background, initially in imitation of Kufic letters, later as a pure bar structure. The colors are strong, mostly on a dark red background. An example of a small-sized Holbein rug can be found on the group portrait of the “ Somerset House Conference ”.

Type II

Today these carpets are called Lotto carpets .

Type III (large-faced)

The motifs in the field are similar to those of the small-sized type, but larger in proportion, so that the field is filled with a few stars in octagonal frames. The large stars or diamonds are arranged at regular intervals and separated by narrow strips. The square sections do not have a medallion (" Gül "). The carpet in Holbein's picture “ The Ambassadors ” shows this type.

Type IV (large-figured)

The square sections contain octagons or "Gül" motifs similar to those on the small Holbein carpets. In contrast to the other three types, whose ornaments are arranged side by side with the same rank and size, the Type IV pattern consists of one significantly larger and four smaller ornaments. This pattern arrangement is also known as a " quincunx " pattern.

literature

  • Wilhelm von Bode, Ernst Kühnel: Near Eastern knotted carpets from ancient times . 5th edition. Klinkhardt & Biermann, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-7814-0247-9 .
  • Gordon Campbell: Carpets (section: History) . In: The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts, Volume 1 . Oxford University Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-19-518948-3 , pp. 187–193 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  • Kurt Erdmann : Seven hundred years of oriental carpets . Busse, Herford 1966.
  • Donald King, David Sylvester (Eds.): The Eastern Carpet in the Western World. From the 15th to the 17th century . Arts Council of Great Britain, London 1983, ISBN 0-7287-0362-9 .

Web links

Commons : Holbein Carpet  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Erdmann, 1966, pp. 130-136
  2. ↑ a b Bodo Brinkmann: Holbein, Bode and the carpets . In: Hans Holbein's Madonna in the Städel . Petersberg 2004, ISBN 978-3-937251-24-0 , pp. 79-91 .
  3. ^ Frederic Robert Martin: A History of Oriental Carpets before 1800 . Printed for the author in the I. and R. State and Court Print, Vienna 1908.
  4. ^ Rudolf Meyer Riefstahl: Primitive Rugs of the "Konya" type in the Mosque of Beyshehir . In: The Art Bulletin . 13, No. 4, December 1931, pp. 177-220.
  5. ^ CJ Lamm: Carpet fragments: The Marby rug and some fragments of carpets found in Egypt. (National Museum series) . 1937, reprint edition. Swedish National Museum , 1985, ISBN 978-91-7100-291-4 .
  6. ↑ Amy Briggs: Timurid Carpets; I. Geometric carpets . In: Ars Islamica . tape 7 , 1940, p. 20-54 .
  7. ↑ King & Sylvester, pp. 26-27, 52-57
  8. ^ Campbell, p. 189.
  9. ↑ a b Bode / Kühnel (1985), pp. 29-30
  10. ^ Walter B. Denny: Lotto Carpets . In: Walter B. Denny, Thomas J. Farnham (eds.): The carpet and the connoisseur: The James F. Ballard Collection of Oriental Rugs . Hali Publications Ltd., London 2016, ISBN 978-0-89178-072-4 , pp. 73-75 .
  11. ↑ Kurt Erdmann: The oriental knotted carpet . 3. Edition. Ernst Wasmuth, Tübingen 1955, p. 26 .