Anatolian animal carpets

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“Phoenix and Dragon” carpet, 164 × 91 cm, Anatolia, mid-15th century, Museum of Islamic Art , Berlin
Animal carpet, around 1500, found in Marby Church, Jämtland , Sweden . Wool, 160 × 112 cm, State History Museum , Stockholm
Animal carpet, Anatolia, 11. – 13. Century, Museum of Islamic Art (Doha)
Animal carpet, before 1500, Museum of Islamic Art , Berlin Inv. No. KGM 1885, 984
“Batári-Crivelli” fragment, Anatolia, 15th century, Hungarian Museum of Applied Arts , Budapest

Anatolian animal carpets represent a special group of carpets which, according to today's knowledge, were made in Anatolia . The stylized depictions of animals tied into the pile are characteristic of animal carpets. They were made in the 14th to 16th centuries during the Seljuk and early Ottoman times and were also exported to Western Europe. Very few of these carpets have survived today, most of them in fragmentary condition. However, animal carpets were often depicted in paintings from the early Renaissance period . The time when the carpets were made can be determined by comparing them with their painted counterparts. Their investigation has contributed significantly to the development of the chronology of Islamic art. Until the Pasyryk carpet was discovered , the Anatolian animal carpets were considered to be the oldest surviving oriental carpets in the world.

Preserved carpets

"Dragon-and-Phoenix" carpet

The carpet, kept today in the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin, shows a traditional Chinese motif, the fight between phoenix and dragon . Radiocarbon analyzes date the carpet to the middle of the 15th century and thus to the early Ottoman Empire. The carpet is tied with symmetrical knots . The Chinese motif was likely introduced into Islamic art by the Mongol invaders during the 13th century .

The "Dragon and Phoenix" carpet has lost its original edges and it appears that the right side has been cut off. Its field is divided into two rectangular sections, each containing a yellow-ground octagon in which a Chinese dragon and a phoenix bird face each other in battle. Both figures are stylized in a geometric form. Their blue colors and the red outline contrast with the yellow of the medallion. The drawing of the upper medallion appears somewhat more depressed than that of the lower one. The corners between the medallions and the rectangular frame are filled with red triangles and rows of white hooks on a red background, resulting in a mutually complementary white-red hook pattern. The rectangular fields are bordered by a narrow guardian border made of pearl patterns in different colors. The main border shows red floral tendril patterns, which are made up of identical, S-shaped motifs on a brown background.

The “phoenix and dragon” carpet was first described in 1881 by Julius Lessing and in 1895 by Wilhelm von Bode . It is one of the classic carpets that is repeatedly mentioned in the literature on oriental carpets.

A similar fragment was discovered in Fustāt . Here, too, the dragon and phoenix are shown fighting on a yellow background. The figures in this fragment are red with blue outlines. The side border shows a variant of the "Kufic" border, which is known from other carpets from the Seljuk period.

The Marby carpet

Another carpet with two medallions showing birds facing each other on either side of a tree was found in the church in Marby, Jämtland Province , Sweden . The radiocarbon dating indicates an origin between 1300 and 1420. Fragments of this type were also found in Fustāt. The field of the “Marby” carpet is also divided into two rectangles, each of which contains an octagon with the two birds and the tree. The tree appears to be mirrored along the central horizontal axis of the medallion as if on a surface of water.

Both the “Phoenix and Dragon” and the “Marby” carpets have rows of knots knotted on their back. Loosely knotted rows of knots are inserted in red thread at a distance of about 6 cm. A carpet fragment from Fustāt has similar additional knots. It is assumed that these additional knots document the work of the weavers during a certain period of time. On average, the extra knots repeat about every 15 rows in the dragon-and-phoenix carpet. Assuming an original width of 1 m, the number of knots between two rows of additional knots is around 3800. This corresponds to both the dimensions of the carpet and the number of individual knots that a weaver can knot into a carpet per day.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The "Dragon and Phoenix" and the "Marby" carpets were the only known animal carpets from Anatolia until 1988. Since then, seven more carpets of this type have appeared. They come from Tibetan monasteries, from which they were taken by monks who fled to Nepal before the Chinese Cultural Revolution . One of these carpets was acquired for the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art . It shows parallels to a painting by the Sienese artist Gregorio di Cecco : "The Wedding of the Virgin" from 1423. Large animals facing each other appear on the carpet, each with a small animal inside.

Vakıflar Museum, Istanbul

The field of an animal carpet from the depots of the Vakıflar Museum, Istanbul (Inv. No. E-1). is divided into two rectangular sections by a band with the same pattern as in the border. In each medallion there is a pair of animals facing each other. The winged animal figures turn to a stylized tree. They have bowed, snout-like heads with antler-like outgrowths and spotted fur, giving them the appearance of fallow deer rather than the birds commonly depicted on animal carpets. Deer and fallow deer are already depicted on the borders of the Pasyryk carpet and are often found on early textiles and other objects from Anatolia and Iran. Under each deer and above the main character there is a bird-like four-footed animal.

Another animal carpet with a more coarsely drawn pattern compared to the Vakıflar carpet is in the Mevlânâ Museum in Konya .

Animal carpet from the Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin

Another carpet from the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin is dated before 1500. This shows four double-headed quadrupeds within a rectangular field, surrounded by an octagonal star. The top star is not completely executed. The stars are framed by smaller octagonal elements, two on each side and one above and below each star. A narrower guardian border with stylized leaf patterns that fill S-shaped ornaments separates the field from the main border. Smaller triangular pattern elements and the outlines of the animals are tied with staggered knots. On the back of the carpet, additional weft threads can be recognized which, each guided over two warp threads, repeat about every 22 regular weft threads. These additional weft threads change their color from yellow to red in the approximate center of the carpet. It is believed that they mark the daily work of two people working side by side. Assuming this, each person would have tied around 2500 knots per day.

Batari Crivelli fragment, Hungarian Museum of Decorative Arts, Budapest

This fragment of an animal carpet from the Hungarian Museum of Applied Arts , Budapest, is about half its original size. Its field contains two large, 16-pointed star medallions with the same pattern, each of which in turn contains an eight-pointed star within an octagon. In every other segment of the medallions, two birds appear alternately with four-legged animals. In the field between the medallions there are smaller rosettes and eight-pointed stars. Each corner contains an ornament that corresponds to a mosque lamp. In the middle of the long side is a smaller octagonal medallion. The Batári-Crivelli fragment is similar to the “Dragon and Phoenix” and “Marby” carpets in that it also has a yellow background and two large medallions as the main elements of the design. Chromatographic analyzes of the dyes showed a yellow from a plant that cannot be precisely defined, indigo blue , madder red , blue-green from indigo, dyer's woof and the use of Greek sage (Salvia fruticosa), and undyed dark brown and white wool was also used. During the 13th International Congress on Turkish Art in Budapest in 2007, the fragment was renamed in honor of Ferenc Batári, the former curator of the museum's carpets and textiles department.

Other animal carpets are kept in the Museum of Islamic Art (Doha) and in private collections.

Illustration in renaissance paintings

Animal carpets are the oldest Islamic carpets that can be identified on European paintings of the Renaissance period from the 14th and during the 15th century. The comparison between the carpets on the paintings, the time and artist of which is known, and the carpets that have been preserved allows a “ terminus ante quem ” to be determined for the time of origin of the preserved originals. This method, based on Julius Lessing's work, was adopted by Wilhelm von Bode . Bode identified a carpet in a painting by Domenico di Bartolo , "The Wedding of the Foundlings" from 1440, which bears a remarkable resemblance to the "Dragon and Phoenix" carpet. The method of comparing historical pictures and carpets to determine the date of their creation was further developed by Friedrich Sarre , Ernst Kühnel and Kurt Erdmann , the best-known representatives of the “Berlin School” of Islamic art history.

The carpets are mostly depicted in a simplified form by the painters of the early Renaissance compared to the originals. Sometimes the images seem to have been painted from memory, but the general appearance is sufficiently similar to the originals. Kurt Erdmann was the first to develop a general classification of animal carpets on Renaissance images. The field of painted animal carpets is usually divided into rectangular, larger or smaller sections. Each section contains an octagon, which in turn encloses animal figures that can be assigned to four different types:

  1. "Heraldic" animals, including single- or double-headed eagles;
  2. Pair of birds and tree;
  3. Individual birds or quadrupeds in a geometric frame;
  4. Animal pairs in a frame, sometimes depicted in battle.

14th Century

At the beginning of the 14th century carpets with stylized single- or double-headed eagles first appeared in the paintings of the painting schools in Florence and Siena. In the second half of the 14th century, stylized birds next to a tree were first depicted on Lippo Memmi's “Virgin and Child” (1340–50) and on Sano di Pietro's “The Virgin's Wedding” , 1448–52. Yetkin discovered a similar carpet in the Vakıflar Halı Museum, Istanbul. The field of this rug is made in the usual style, with birds between a tree, but the birds have combs and the pattern is more finely worked out. The corners of the composition are filled with animal motifs that may represent dragons. An animal carpet with this evolved pattern type appears in a painting by William Larkin .

A fragment of carpet depicting a single bird is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York. A painted counterpart to this can be seen on Niccolò di Buonaccorso's “Marriage of the Virgin” from 1380.

  • One of the first oriental carpets shown in Europe, attributed to the legendary brother Bartolomeo: Annunciation , 13th century, Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, Florence.

  • Lippo Memmi, “Virgin and Child” , an animal carpet with two birds facing each other next to a tree, 1340–50

  • Niccolò di Buonaccorso, “Marriage of the Virgin” , 1380. National Gallery , London

15th and 16th centuries

At the beginning of the 15th century the animal style became more diverse: two animal carpets from Fustāt were dated to the 15th century. They contain parts of a version of the "tree and bird pair" pattern known from the "Marby carpet". The field is no longer divided into sections, the "tree and bird pair" pattern appears in a staggered sequence and fills the field in an infinite repeat.

A fresco by Matteo di Giovanni in the Papal Palace in Avignon shows a carpet with indistinctly depicted birds lying in front of the Pope's throne. Written sources from the 14th century testify that Benedict XII. appreciated a carpet with "white swans" and had it laid out in front of his throne. A painting by Giovanni di Paolo from 1440 shows such an animal carpet with birds in front of the Pope's throne.

Various examples are known of carpets with individually lined up birds without a rectangular field subdivision. A carpet in the Archaeological Museum of Konya , dated to the 15th century, corresponds to an original from this group. A painting by Jaume Huguet in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya shows an almost identical carpet. Similar carpets can also be found on a painting by Giovanni di Paolo in Palazzo Doria-Pamphilj , Rome, and on “Madonna Enthroned” by Ambrogio Lorenzetti . Another animal carpet with a different pattern appears on Carlo Crivelli's “Annunciation” from 1482. The pattern of this carpet consists of stylized animal figures in eight-pointed stars and corresponds to the Batári-Crivelli fragment from Budapest. A carpet with pairs of animals appears on Fra Angelico's “Altarpiece of San Marco” .

The “Phoenix and Dragon” carpet of the Museum of Islamic Art has painted counterparts in Domenico di Bartolo's “Wedding of the Foundlings” (1440), as well as in Alesso Baldovinetti's “Story of Saint Vincenzo Ferrerio” and Jacopo Bellini's “Annunciation” .

The Batári-Crivelli fragment shows parallels to two paintings by Carlo Crivelli, the “Annunciation” from 1482 in the Städelmuseum in Frankfurt , and the “Annunciation with St. Emidius” (1486) in the National Gallery. Both paintings depict a 16-pointed star motif, individual sections of which have strongly stylized animal motifs.

The carpet from the Vakıflar Museum has a painted counterpart in William Larkin's “Portrait of Dorothy Cary, later Viscountess Rochford” , which depicts very similar animals. As far as is known, the carpet on Larkin's portrait is the last animal carpet to be seen in a Western European painting.

  • Sano di Pietro, “Marriage of the Virgin” , 1448–52, Pinacoteca Vaticana

  • Domenico di Bartolo “Wedding of the Foundlings” , 1440

  • Carlo Crivelli, detail from “The Annunciation with St. Emidius” , 1486. National Gallery , London

  • Carlo Crivelli, “Annunciation” , 1482. Tempera on poplar wood. Städelsches Kunstinstitut , Frankfurt am Main, Inv. 841A

  • Carlo Crivelli “Annunciation” (detail), Städel, Frankfurt am Main, 1482

  • Fra Angelico, "Altar of San Marco" , 1438–43

  • William Larkin, "Dorothy Cary, later Viscountess Rochford," 1614–8, Kenwood House

Further literature

  • John Mills: Early animal carpets in western paintings - a review. In: Hali. The International Journal of Oriental Carpets and Textiles. Vol. 1, No. 3, 1978, ISSN  0142-0798 , pp. 234-243.
  • John Mills: The animal rugs revisited. In: Murray L. Eiland, Robert Pinner (Eds.): Oriental Carpet and Textile Studies. Volume 6. International Conference on Oriental Carpets, Danville CA 2001, ISBN 1-889666-07-6 , pp. 46-51.

See also

Web links

Portal: Turkey  - Overview of Wikipedia content on Turkey
Portal: Islam  - Overview of Wikipedia content on Islam

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Kurt Erdmann : Seven hundred years of oriental carpets. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 1970, ISBN 0-520-01816-8 .
  2. ↑ Jürg Rageth: Dating the dragon & phoenix fragments. In: Hali. No. 134, 2004, pp. 106-109.
  3. ↑ Anna Beselin (Ed.): Linked art. Carpets of the Museum of Islamic Art. Edition Minerva, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-938832-80-6 , pp. 46-47.
  4. ^ "Dragon and Phoenix" carpet. Retrieved November 19, 2015 .
  5. ↑ a b Anna Beselin (Ed.): Linked art. Carpets of the Museum of Islamic Art. Edition Minerva, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-938832-80-6 .
  6. ↑ Julius Lessing : Oriental carpets (= model booklets from the Royal Museum of Applied Arts. 13, ZDB -ID 1219290-9 ). Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin 1891.
  7. ↑ K. k. Austrian Trade Museum (ed.): Carpet production in the Orient. Monographs by Sir George Birdwood, Wilhelm Bode, C. Purdon Clarke, M. Gerspach, Sidney JA Churchill, Vincent J. Robinson, JM Stoecket. Publishing house of the Imperial and Royal Austrian Trade Museum, Vienna 1895.
  8. ^ A b c Carl Johan Lamm: Carpet fragments. The Marby rug and some fragments of carpets found in Egypt (= National Museum Skrift Series. NS 7). National Museum, Stockholm 1985, ISBN 91-7100-291-X .
  9. ↑ Anna Beselin (Ed.): Linked art. Carpets of the Museum of Islamic Art. Edition Minerva, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-938832-80-6 , pp. 46-49.
  10. ^ Animal Carpet in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed November 19, 2015 .
  11. ^ National Gallery London. In: National Gallery London NG 1317. Retrieved November 19, 2015 .
  12. ↑ Belkıs Balpınar, Udo Hirsch: Carpets of the Vakıflar Museum Istanbul. = Carpets of the Vakıflar Museum Istanbul. Hülsey, Wesel 1988, ISBN 3-923185-04-9 , pp. 190-191.
  13. ↑ Belkıs Balpınar, Udo Hirsch: Carpets of the Vakıflar Museum Istanbul. = Carpets of the Vakıflar Museum Istanbul. Hülsey, Wesel 1988, ISBN 3-923185-04-9 .
  14. ↑ a b Belkıs Balpınar, Udo Hirsch: Carpets of the Vakıflar Museum Istanbul. = Carpets of the Vakıflar Museum Istanbul. Hülsey, Wesel 1988, ISBN 3-923185-04-9 , p. 62.
  15. ↑ Anna Beselin (Ed.): Linked art. Carpets of the Museum of Islamic Art. Edition Minerva, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-938832-80-6 , pp. 50-51.
  16. ^ Ferenc Batári: Ottoman Turkish carpets (= The Collections of The Museum of Applied Arts Budapest. 1). Museum of Applied Arts et al., Budapest et al. 1994, p. 46, ISBN 96304-9212-4 .
  17. ↑ Julius Lessing: Ancient oriental carpet samples based on pictures and originals from the XV. – XVI. Century. Ernst Wasmuth, Berlin 1877.
  18. ^ Wilhelm von Bode, Ernst Kühnel: Vorderasiatische Knüpfteppiche from old times. 5th edition. Klinkhardt & Biermann, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-7814-0247-9 .
  19. ↑ Serare Yetkin: Historical Turkish carpets (= Türkiye Iş Bankasi Cultural Publications. Art Series. 20 = Türkiye Iş Bankasi Cultural Publications. 150). Kültür Yayinlari Is-Türk, Istanbul 1981.
  20. ↑ Kurt Erdmann: Oriental animal carpets on pictures of the XIV. And XV. Century. A study of the beginnings of the oriental knotted carpet In: Jahrbuch der Prussischen Kunstsammlungen. Vol. 50, 1929, ISSN  0934-618X , pp. 261-298, JSTOR 23350357 .
  21. ↑ Serare Yetkin: Historical Turkish carpets (= Türkiye Iş Bankasi Cultural Publications. Art Series. 20 = Türkiye Iş Bankasi Cultural Publications. 150). Kültür Yayinlari Is-Türk, Istanbul 1981, plate 17.
  22. ↑ Serare Yetkin: Historical Turkish carpets (= Türkiye Iş Bankasi Cultural Publications. Art Series. 20 = Türkiye Iş Bankasi Cultural Publications. 150). Kültür Yayinlari Is-Türk, Istanbul 1981, p. 28.
  23. ^ John Mills: Early animal carpets in western paintings - a review. In: Hali. Vol. 1, No. 3, 1978, pp. 234-243.
  24. ↑ Fragment of an animal carpet, MET. In: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved November 19, 2015 .
  25. ^ Bettina Röhrig: Santissima Annunziata.
  26. ↑ Serare Yetkin: Historical Turkish carpets (= Türkiye Iş Bankasi Cultural Publications. Art Series. 20 = Türkiye Iş Bankasi Cultural Publications. 150). Kültür Yayinlari Is-Türk, Istanbul 1981, p. 29, plates 18, 19.
  27. ↑ Serare Yetkin: Historical Turkish carpets (= Türkiye Iş Bankasi Cultural Publications. Art Series. 20 = Türkiye Iş Bankasi Cultural Publications. 150). Kültür Yayinlari Is-Türk, Istanbul 1981, p. 33, Ill. 5 and 6.
  28. ↑ Serare Yetkin: Historical Turkish carpets (= Türkiye Iş Bankasi Cultural Publications. Art Series. 20 = Türkiye Iş Bankasi Cultural Publications. 150). Kültür Yayinlari Is-Türk, Istanbul 1981, p. 31, plate 20.
  29. ↑ Serare Yetkin: Historical Turkish carpets (= Türkiye Iş Bankasi Cultural Publications. Art Series. 20 = Türkiye Iş Bankasi Cultural Publications. 150). Kültür Yayinlari Is-Türk, Istanbul 1981, p. 34, Ill. 7 and 8.
  30. ↑ Serare Yetkin: Historical Turkish carpets (= Türkiye Iş Bankasi Cultural Publications. Art Series. 20 = Türkiye Iş Bankasi Cultural Publications. 150). Kültür Yayinlari Is-Türk, Istanbul 1981, p. 36.