Carpet

"Transylvanian" Rug

Transylvania, an area that has given its name to this category of rugs, was an autonomous principality subject to Ottoman rule during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It is now incorporated into Rumania although at different times in history, it has been part of both Hungary and Rumania. It was originally thought that because so many rugs of this type were preserved in Transylvanian churches, they must have been woven in the area. Now, in light of technical, stylistic, and historical data, Anatolia is widely accepted as the origin of this type, although the localization of places of manufacture remains to be determined. Affinities to design elements of Ushak and Ottoman court patterns as well as Egyptian architectural features have been mentioned in various studies on this group. From the number of extant rugs, it must be inferred that the export trade to eastern as well as western Europe was extensive. This type of rug appears in western European paintings, particularly Dutch ones of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The border and field on this example can be found in pictures dating to the 1620s. Field, border, and guard stripes are usually variations on the same theme, executed in soft, fresh colors.

Here, the field contains two different types of arches, and shows a mosque lamp or vase in each apex, more or less connected to the nearly symmetrical floral, plant, and abstract forms aligned along the vertical axis on the apricot-colored ground. The color changes at either end of the field add a note of liveliness. The main border, showing an eight-pointed star-and-cross pattern combined with a cartouche with angular ends, continues an early Islamic pattern combination, and the trefoil counterchange in the guard bands recalls Egyptian architectural devices. Two abstract scrolls, both geometric and floral-and-leaf varieties, are found in the subguards. The plain-weave finish remains at each end. The somewhat stiff, less vivid rendering of the underlying design of the ornamental figures, the ornately stylized rosettes and leaves in the spandrels, the abstract floral stems on the cross pattern, and the large palmette forms in the cartouches in the border seem to point to a later evolution in the design of Transylvanian carpets than those shown in European paintings of the first half of the seventeenth century.

Carolyn Kane in [Berlin 1981]

James F. Ballard, St. Louis, MO (until 1922; gifted to MMA)

Breck, Joseph, and Frances Morris. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art." In The James F. Ballard Collection of Oriental Rugs. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1923. no. 46, p. 27, ill. (b/w).

Dimand, Maurice S., and Jean Mailey. Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1973. no. 90, pp. 193, 226, ill. fig. 177 (b/w).

"Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York." In The Arts of Islam. Berlin, 1981. no. 117, pp. 274–75, ill. (b/w).