Carpets of Turkey Through The History Of Anatolia

Anatolian Peninsula has been inhabited by Turkic tribes since the early 11th century. During the decline of the Seljuk Empire in Iran and increasing Mongol pressure coming from the East, Turkmens (which means a group of Turkic tribes converted to Islam and who live in Western Asia) moved to Anatolia and had refuge under the reign of Seljuks of Anatolia.

Turkmen warriors in a small encampment, miniature of Mehmet Siyahkalem 14th century

From the beginning of this period, we do see Anatolian carpets in terms of pile knotted carpets first woven in Anatolia by the effects of Turks. The first carpets that we find in the mosques remaining from the Seljuk period are generally very coarse, extremely big, with a few colors, and with always repetitive patterns. From those common properties, we do deduct the fact that those carpets were not home made because they are much bigger than carpets that are possible to be woven within the house conditions. That means also Seljuks were financing those carpets to be used in municipal buildings such as palaces, madrasahs (medieval Islamic schools), or mosques. The main aim of those carpets is not to embellish the entourage but to provide the isolation of those buildings from the cold. Also, the coarse structure emphasizes the fact of speed during the weaving of those carpets, so the carpers should be ready for new buildings financed by Seljuks when they are ready to be used.

Seljuk carpet, 14th century, Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum

Seljuk carpet detail photo, 14th century, Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum

The repetitive pattern structure taken from the ornaments of Central Asian brick building outside faces, do not have any shamanistic effect and were most probably designed on purpose. Because Seljuks had a very bgüig concern about converting to or providing the subjects recently became Muslim a strict Sunni type of belief in which the shamanistic traits should be erased.

After the collapse of the Seljuks at the beginning of the 14th century, we see the triumph of local seigniories which had a closer lifestyle and policy to the nomads and nomadic life. We see the Anatolian carpets becoming much smaller and nearly always in the size of a prayer rug, not necessarily with a prayer niche but other with mysterious animals depicted. This is for sure the effect of the nomadic life, state-controlled carpet production left its place to the individual carpet production either in cottages or nomadic tents with much finer weaves and a lot of animal style patterns such as dragons, phoenix, sacred deers, and many other creatures that have a meaning in shamanistic belief.

Detail of a 14th century animal style carpet, Central Anatolia, Vakiflar Museum

Turkish animal carpet, 14th century, Metropolitan Museum

At the beginning of the 15t century, we see Ottomans establishing a stable system. This system has provided Turkmen Tribes to settle in the western Anatolian valleys and partially make animal husbandry like their ancestors. Carpets known as a diplomatic gift, ottomans have begun to finance and supervise carpet production going on in Western Anatolian towns such as Ushak, Gördes, Kula, Demirci, Simav, Selendi, and other towns around. All the positive factors such as experienced Turkmen as spinning and weaving workforce, sheep and wool, dye materials, one branch of the Silk road heading to Smyrna were around. So Ottomans transformed the cottage industry to a state-monitored workshop industry and gained huge amounts of money from the exportation of those carpets. The imperial design workshop was also involved in this production operation and created some very beautiful patterns based on tile or bookbinding patterns such as medallions or spandrels. Those patterns would influence Turkmen rural production of Carpets and kilims but also some weaving schools in Iran, Syria, and Balkans with mostly the designs but also the colors and weaving techniques. So-called Transylvanian rugs are the fruit of this vaste operation of state-monitored production that took several centuries. We do call this period the classical period of Turkish Carpet Production. In that period some carpet designs painted by renaissance painters have taken the names of those painters for their classification. Holbein, Crivelli, Lotto, Bellini carpets are the famous ones in that type of classification.

Transylvanian carpet, 16th cnetury, Western Turkey

Ushak classical medellion carpet, 16th century

Ushak carpet, prayer size, 17th century

Towards the late 18th century, the industrial revolution has begun to show its effect on the Ottoman empire and ottoman art. The classical patterns have been tried to be modernized, the natural dyes began to be leftover for the new chemical ones, and machinery has begun to show its effect of mass production such as the spinning of the yarns. After the mid 19th century, we do see a more centralized carpet production being closer to the machinery and accumulated around the capital city of Istanbul. Individualism and freestyle applied by the weavers in a limited but harmonious way disappear totally in this period. The finesse and the regularity of a carpet began to be more important than the color balance and the freedom of the pattern. First revolutions seen in Gördes have been followed in more and more close production places to the Ottoman palace, in a succession, such as Bandirma, Hereke, Kumkapı, and Feshane, just because the carpets were more and more expensive objects that only the members of Ottoman court and their entourage were able to have them. Nearly all of the production going on in those places were subjecting Ottoman court and nobody else.

Gordes carpet, late 18th century, Western Turkey

Bandırma Carpet, Late 18th century, North-Western Turkey

Hereke Carpet, late 19th century North West Turkey

Kumkapı Carpet, early 20th century, Istanbul

Feshane Carpet, Early 20th century, Istanbul

After the collapse of the Ottomans, the new republic tried to protect the still ongoing factories in Hereke. Feshane carpet factory was already closed and Kumkapi was an ensemble of small private institutions. The official bank supplied (Sümerbank) workshops operated till the ends of the 1990s but neither the supply nor the quality of materials was not enough to keep the high-quality demand of inner or foreigner demands.

Sümerbank-State production carpet, 1980s,