Page 226 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

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rugs with empty niches, The Ottomans also produced large Europeans as table or chest covers. Two sixteenth-century ex-
prayer rugs, called saf, which contained a series of mihrabs. amples have been published: one of them, in San Gimignano
Made for imperial mosques, they are thought to have been Museum, is embellished with a European coat of arms, and
woven in U§ak, following the patterns used on the seccades the other is in the Victoria and Albert Museum. 114
made in the court workshops. Several fragments of saf rugs The most magnificent Ottoman court-style rugs are sec-
were found in the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, while others cades, which are characterized by their small size and were
are in American and European collections. 106 meant to be used by one person either in private devotion or
Rugs produced for secular use vary in size and are gener- as part of a group. They all have mihrab niches, which are
ally rectangular, although a few square ones were also sometimes clearly identified by arches supported by columns
woven. Some of these rugs, most preserved in American and or by a pair of spandrels. The niche, frequently supplied with
European collections, are of superb quality and suggest court a hanging lamp, was used to orient the seccade—and the
manufacture; others, which apply court designs to mass- worshiper—toward the Kaaba in Mecca. Since the seccade
produced examples made for domestic consumption or for traditionally was spread on the floor before prayer and folded
export, appear to have been made in several centers, includ- in fourths to be stored, the materials used had to be soft and
ing Cairo and U§ak. Among the rectangular rugs are a small pliable. These included knotted pile rugs woven in wool, silk,
example in Paris (see 161) and a larger one in New York, 107 and cotton as well as embroidered, appliquéd, and brocaded
both woven in fine wool using the asymmetrical knot with- satins and velvets. The format of the Ottoman individual
out the silk and cotton normally associated with court manu- prayer rug as well as that of the safs was imitated in other
facture. The quality of these two rugs is comparable to the Islamic societies, particularly in the Muslim courts in India. 115
seccades, which indicates that all-wool rugs were also pro- One of the earliest court prayer rugs (158), which is in Ku-
duced for the court. wait, has a ruby-red field with an ivory horseshoe arch sup-
The same material and technique appear in an unusual se- ported by a pair of columns and a wide pale blue border. The
ries of identical rugs whose format is similar to bookbindings. spandrels of the arch are filled with dark green scrolls bearing
Four of these, once in the Palazzo Corsi in Florence, are now polychrome naturalistic flowers; the columns, decorated with
housed in London, Berlin, Budapest, and Paris; 108 a fifth ex- a series of lozenges, rise from architectural structures com-
ample is in New York (see 162). There are also ivory-ground posed as domed multistoried hexagonal buildings, minutely
wool rugs woven with symmetrical knots decorated with detailed with arcades, doorways, and windows. The columns
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overall çintemani patterns. Although wool rugs with sym- are surmounted by acanthus capitals, which join the span-
metrical knots are assigned to Anatolia, generally to U§ak, drels with an entablature embellished with smaller hexagonal
those with more refined designs using asymmetrical knots are domed structures. Above the arch is a rectangular panel di-
traditionally given a Cairene provenance, which is by no vided into two lobed oblongs filled with floral motifs. Sus-
means firmly established. It has been suggested that the ear- pended by three chains between the spandrels is a blue
lier rugs produced in the imperial workshops used the fine mosque lamp decorated with naturalistic blossoms.
luminous wool found in the Egyptian examples, while those The wide border is flanked by a pair of guard stripes com-
made after the third quarter of the century incorporated silk posed of blossoms separated by strips, framed on either side
and cotton. 110 by thin bands with rumi scrolls. The border itself is decorated
Ottoman rug weavers also produced unusually shaped ex- with a scroll that creates reciprocal volutes and bears alternat-
amples, such as long panels, octagonal spreads, and cruciform ing peonies or hatayis flanked by pairs of long feathery saz
table covers. A narrow and long panel in the Textile Museum leaves. Sprouting from these blossoms are branches with tu-
in Washington 111 appears to have been designed to be used as lips, carnations, hyacinths, jasmine, sweet alyssum, and a
an overhanging edge on a canopy erected in front of an im- multitude of other spring flowers, which spread into the adja-
perial tent. Similar canopies are frequently represented in cent zones and overlap or intersect the other elements. Ren-
manuscript illustrations. Two octagonal or circular court-style dered on a pale blue ground, this fantastic scroll harmoni-
examples are known to exist from the sixteenth century. 112 ously blends the saz style with the naturalistic genre.
These pieces, thought to have been made as table covers, The incorporation of elements inspired by local architecture
were more likely spread on the floor and used for dining. is unique to this series of prayer rugs. Columns decorated
Guests seated on the ground around rectangular or circular with similar lozenge-patterned tiles can be found in Ottoman
floor spreads are represented in manuscripts and described by structures dating from the second half of the sixteenth cen-
Baron Busbecq: "An oblong leather coverlet closely crowded tury. The more common capital, however, employs the mu-
with dishes is spread on the ground over a rug/' 113 In Eu- karnas (stalactite formation), and not acanthus. Carved mar-
rope, however, these rugs were most likely used to cover ble Corinthian-type capitals made for pre-Ottoman structures
round tables, adapting to western custom. The cruciform and reused in a few Ottoman buildings may have served as
rugs, in contrast, must have been made for export, ordered by models for the ones in the prayer rugs. The blue-ground

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