Page 183 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

illuminations made by nakka§hane artists were influential in lated to both Seljuk and Mamluk examples. Those produced
the design of the "medallion-U§ak" rugs datable to the late in the second quarter of the sixteenth century reflect the con-
fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, and a similar parallel temporary themes employed in the nakka§hane and are em-
may be found in the so-called "Tabrizi" and "Herati" rugs. bellished with çintemani patterns, hatayi scrolls, rumis, and
That Bursa was thought to be another rug manufacturing cloud bands. Dating from the second half of the sixteenth
center is also debatable, since there is no documentary evi- century are rugs that combine naturalistic flowers and saz
dence that this city produced any woven goods except textiles scrolls, with less frequent use of traditional rumis and cloud
in the sixteenth century. bands. The most refined and intricate designs were intro-
The question then arises as to where the sixteenth-century duced during the last years of Suleyman's reign, around the
Ottoman rugs were made. The most refined examples were 1560s, and were employed well into the seventeenth century.
obviously produced in the imperial workshops attached to The best products of the court weavers are a series of
the palace; there were also looms in Istanbul, many of which prayer rugs that either have columns framing a mihrab empty
must have been in the Hahcilar (rug makers') district, which except for a suspended lamp or show a profusion of fantastic
apparently took its name from the weavers. Cairo must have and naturalistic blossoms filling this zone (see 158-160).
been very active, making copies of court designs for export. These rugs, whose sizes range between 172 and 181 by 122
3
1
U§ak also manufactured rugs, some of which were for do- and 127 centimeters (67 /4 and 71 A inches by 48 and 50
mestic consumption, while others were exported. Documents inches), reveal the same wide borders decorated with double
related to the furnishings of the Süleymaniye Mosque indi- saz scrolls.
cate that in 1551 the Ottoman governor of Cairo was asked The dates of these prayer rugs, the majority of which are in
to check the quality of the ten colored, or variegated, rugs collections outside Turkey, are not firmly established. Only
and ten very large similar examples that had been ordered. one sixteenth-century court-style example has survived in
The court, it appears, was suspicious of the quality of Cairene Istanbul, the one with a large palmette in the mihrab field
production. A second Süleymaniye document dated 1553 is found in the Mausoleum of Selim II. 37 Once thought to have
related to an order sent to Küre for rugs to be produced ac- come from the Mausoleum of Ahmed I, it was dated to the
cording to the samples sent. The latter indicates not only the second decade of the seventeenth century. The rug's decora-
existence of a previously unknown center but confirms the tive repertoire suggests that it may have been made earlier.
fact that designs were provided by the court. 35 The chronology and provenance of Ottoman rugs need to
Most of the sixteenth-century rugs are assigned to U§ak, be reevaluated according to period styles and their relation to
long known for its high-quality production of diverse designs court designs, which provided models to the artists and deter-
that included geometric, floral, and çintemani motifs filling mined their stylistic development. Production centers cannot
medallions, stars, lozenges, squares, or rectangles. Rugs are be identified solely by tracing technical data such as knots,
also attributed to the Bergama area, and it is possible that a twists of yarns, and materials used to construct warps, wefts,
number of other centers had family-run looms. Cities such as and piles, because there was a constant flow of traditions,
Kayseri, Sivas, Konya, and Kars, in which rugs are manufac- materials, and artisans between parts of the vast empire.
tured today, might have been active in earlier periods as well.
Evliya Çelebi mentioned that the dealers in Istanbul sold rugs
made in Kula, Kavalla, and Salonika, in addition to those
from Cairo and Isfahan. 36 Kaftans
Court rugs show different technical features than those pro-
duced outside the capital. They employ asymmetrical knots The largest repository of imperial garments is housed in the
(called "Senna"), which were also used in Iranian and Mam- Topkapi Palace, and consists of some 2,500 items, of which
luk examples, instead of the more characteristic Turkish sym- more than 1,000 are kaftans. This rich collection, dating from
metrical knots (known as "Gordes"), the former being more the late fifteenth century to the end of the empire, represents
suitable for the refined and intricate foliate designs favored by the full range of fabrics and styles, and includes European-
the court. These rugs, which combine wool and silk, reflect style garments, which began to be used in the court after the
the classical type of Ottoman weaving, which survived be- early nineteenth century. According to Ottoman tradition,
yond the nineteenth century. In 1891 the weavers moved to robes worn by the rulers as well as other personal items, such
Hereke outside of Istanbul, where they still continue the as accessories and underwear, were wrapped in bohças, la-
tradition. beled, and preserved in the Hazine after their deaths. A num-
Ottoman court rugs dating from the first quarter of the six- ber of kaftans were also transferred to their mausoleums and
teenth century are not yet identified, but may have included placed over their sarcophagi. Contents of the turbes were pil-
a group of superbly designed and executed pieces with large fered through the years, and what was left was moved to na-
or small geometric patterns, the designs of which can be re- tional museums after the Republic of Turkey was founded. A

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