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Lot Essay
WOVEN ART IN WESTERN PAINTINGS
Carpets and luxury textiles have been symbols of power, status and great wealth for millennia, but due to their use and relative fragility they have often not survived in great numbers. As a result, the importance of paintings for our knowledge of early carpets cannot be overstated, as they provide context for these weavings and allow us a glimpse into how they were traded, used and valued by their wealthy owners.
In 1271–72 Marco Polo famously remarked that the best and most beautiful carpets in the world were made in 'Turkomania' (Anatolia). Italian artists of the 14th century were the first to depict oriental carpets, the majority of which originate from Anatolia. The importance and status of these precious textiles is conveyed by the fact they were initially only found in depictions of religious scenes, often under the foot of the Virgin or as altar coverings.
By the 16th century carpets had become important inclusions in fashionable still lifes, portraits, and genre scenes reflecting the wealth and sophistication of the patron. It is interesting to note that in the 19th century when carpet scholarship was born, it was to the paintings of the Renaissance artists that the authors looked in order to classify the different types of carpets. To this day a number of groups of early Turkish carpets are referred to by the names of the artists that depicted them, most famously Lotto, Ghirlandaio and Holbein.
The following surviving group of ten rugs show identifiable rug designs depicted in near contemporaneous paintings executed in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. These paintings are a crucial method with which one can place these works of art into context, preserved in all their glory, whether in a sacred area, displayed on a table top, hung from an open window or depicted in a royal or noble interior.
A 'PHOENIX IN OCTAGON' RUG
This unique rug belongs to the extraordinary group of 'Animal' carpets, so-called due to the inclusion of animals and birds within their designs which were woven in Anatolia during the Seljuq and early Ottoman period. Only eighteen animal rugs are known to have survived from this period, seven of which are small fragments. This group represents the earliest Oriental carpets to be identified in Renaissance paintings of the 14th century and which continue to be depicted in Western European paintings throughout the 15th century. Nearly sixty early Sienese and Florentine paintings, executed from this period were identified by John Mills in 1978, as depicting animal figures in rugs, (M.Franses and J.Eskenazi, Turkish Rugs and Old Master Paintings, 1996, p.4). The comparison of animal-style carpets on Renaissance paintings, for which the painter and the date of origin are often known, and which have survived in far greater number and in much better condition than the fragile materials of 15th century weavings, allows for the determination of a "terminus ante quem" date for existing carpets of similar design. By this method, a variety of existing carpets could be dated by comparison to their painted counterparts.
A general compositional analysis of the animal-style rugs from Renaissance paintings was first developed by Kurt Erdmann, Orientalische Tierteppiche auf Bildern des XIV und XV Jahrhunderts, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1929, pp.261-298. Erdmann divides the group by their large or small rectangular compartments. Each compartment contains an octagon, which in turn contains animal figures of four types: "Heraldic" animals, including single- or double-headed eagles; paired birds and a tree; single birds or quadrupeds in a geometric frame; paired animals within a frame, sometimes depicted in combat.
The rich red ground on the present rug is loosely decorated with small polychrome 'Crivelli' star octagons, tiny amulet fillers and the suggestion of spandrel fragments to each corner. However, it is the decoration within each of the two dominant indigo octagons, with the highly abstracted paired, inverted figures of phoenixes that is immediately striking, both in their lightning-bolt drawing and rainbow-striped colouring. This traditional Chinese motif was most probably introduced into Islamic art by the Mongols, or artists working for them, during the thirteenth century. The imagery of a phoenix with the same elongated body and barbed head as those in the present rug, can be seen emerging from beneath the robes of the Virgin Mary, as she seemingly kneels on a rug decorated with at least two octagons, in an early Renaissance painting of The Annunciation, early 1430's, by the Italian artist, Jacopo Bellini (1396?-1471?), church of Sant' Alessandro, Brescia. Bellini's exquisitely fine, and seemingly accurate, treatment of the golden robes adorning Mary, suggest that his depiction and appreciation of textiles was a matter of great interest, which would suggest that is depiction of the carpet was equally handled with as much care.
In 1886, Wilhelm von Bode discovered in an Italian church the iconic 15th century 'dragon and phoenix' carpet which now resides in the Islamic Museum, Berlin. That fragmented carpet depicts the highly stylised figures of a dragon and phoenix in combat, set within two octagons upon a yellow ground. The phoenix is seen to be swooping down upon the dragon from above with an elongated body, a jagged head and a feathered tail. The main border is composed of stepped scrolling S-motifs set upon a yellow ground which is this same border design that appears in Bellini's Annunciation, but with its colours reversed. Bode identified a carpet in Domenico di Bartolo's 1440 painting, The Marriage of the Foundlings with marked similarities to the 'dragon and phoenix' carpet. This marks the beginning of the "ante quem" method, which was subsequently further elaborated by the "Berlin School" of History of Islamic Art.
The Marby Bird rug, discovered in the Swedish church of Marby in Jämtland province, and which is now in Stockholm’s Museum of National Antiquities, is another of the group which was radiocarbon dated to 1300–1420. It similarly displays an octagon in each half of the field, each filled with a tree flanked by an inward facing bird. The tree is mirrored along the horizontal central axis of the octagon in a way which suggests its image is reflected in water. This ancient motif, common in woven silk and wool textiles from the early Middle Ages onwards. There is a close relationship between the Marby rug and the Berlin Dragon and Phoenix rug in style, colour and in technical details. Another example to survive from this group, now in the Vakiflar Museum, Istanbul, depicts two confronting birds or animals, flanking a tree, (Belkis Balpinar and Udo Hirsch, Carpets of the Vakiflar Museum Istanbul, Wesel, 1988, pp.190-1, pl.7). This archaic design tradition is found in art from ancient Mesopotamia but also suggests connections to Anatolian and other weaving traditions, (see Susan Day, ‘Tree of Life’, HALI 170, pp.86–95). The octagonal medallions recall animal rugs and the rectangular reserves are similar to those seen in large-pattern ‘Holbein’ rugs from the same period.
The colours on the present rug are astonishingly well preserved and are used to their maximum effect, which is typical of the very best early Anatolian weavings. The alternating green, red, blue and yellow lapets which survive to a greater degree along the upper edge of the rug, are striking in both their colour and their decoration, with a vertical cruciform stake emerging from a circle with a radiating collar. The border, of elibelinde form, is another ancient design that continues throughout Anatolian weaving history up to the 20th century.
This 'Phoenix in Octagon' rug, which appears for the first time on the auction market, and which has remained in the same private European collection for nearly thirty years, is a unique and rare survivor amongst the small group of known 'Animal' rugs in its depiction of the mythical phoenix.
Carpets and luxury textiles have been symbols of power, status and great wealth for millennia, but due to their use and relative fragility they have often not survived in great numbers. As a result, the importance of paintings for our knowledge of early carpets cannot be overstated, as they provide context for these weavings and allow us a glimpse into how they were traded, used and valued by their wealthy owners.
In 1271–72 Marco Polo famously remarked that the best and most beautiful carpets in the world were made in 'Turkomania' (Anatolia). Italian artists of the 14th century were the first to depict oriental carpets, the majority of which originate from Anatolia. The importance and status of these precious textiles is conveyed by the fact they were initially only found in depictions of religious scenes, often under the foot of the Virgin or as altar coverings.
By the 16th century carpets had become important inclusions in fashionable still lifes, portraits, and genre scenes reflecting the wealth and sophistication of the patron. It is interesting to note that in the 19th century when carpet scholarship was born, it was to the paintings of the Renaissance artists that the authors looked in order to classify the different types of carpets. To this day a number of groups of early Turkish carpets are referred to by the names of the artists that depicted them, most famously Lotto, Ghirlandaio and Holbein.
The following surviving group of ten rugs show identifiable rug designs depicted in near contemporaneous paintings executed in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. These paintings are a crucial method with which one can place these works of art into context, preserved in all their glory, whether in a sacred area, displayed on a table top, hung from an open window or depicted in a royal or noble interior.
A 'PHOENIX IN OCTAGON' RUG
This unique rug belongs to the extraordinary group of 'Animal' carpets, so-called due to the inclusion of animals and birds within their designs which were woven in Anatolia during the Seljuq and early Ottoman period. Only eighteen animal rugs are known to have survived from this period, seven of which are small fragments. This group represents the earliest Oriental carpets to be identified in Renaissance paintings of the 14th century and which continue to be depicted in Western European paintings throughout the 15th century. Nearly sixty early Sienese and Florentine paintings, executed from this period were identified by John Mills in 1978, as depicting animal figures in rugs, (M.Franses and J.Eskenazi, Turkish Rugs and Old Master Paintings, 1996, p.4). The comparison of animal-style carpets on Renaissance paintings, for which the painter and the date of origin are often known, and which have survived in far greater number and in much better condition than the fragile materials of 15th century weavings, allows for the determination of a "terminus ante quem" date for existing carpets of similar design. By this method, a variety of existing carpets could be dated by comparison to their painted counterparts.
A general compositional analysis of the animal-style rugs from Renaissance paintings was first developed by Kurt Erdmann, Orientalische Tierteppiche auf Bildern des XIV und XV Jahrhunderts, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1929, pp.261-298. Erdmann divides the group by their large or small rectangular compartments. Each compartment contains an octagon, which in turn contains animal figures of four types: "Heraldic" animals, including single- or double-headed eagles; paired birds and a tree; single birds or quadrupeds in a geometric frame; paired animals within a frame, sometimes depicted in combat.
The rich red ground on the present rug is loosely decorated with small polychrome 'Crivelli' star octagons, tiny amulet fillers and the suggestion of spandrel fragments to each corner. However, it is the decoration within each of the two dominant indigo octagons, with the highly abstracted paired, inverted figures of phoenixes that is immediately striking, both in their lightning-bolt drawing and rainbow-striped colouring. This traditional Chinese motif was most probably introduced into Islamic art by the Mongols, or artists working for them, during the thirteenth century. The imagery of a phoenix with the same elongated body and barbed head as those in the present rug, can be seen emerging from beneath the robes of the Virgin Mary, as she seemingly kneels on a rug decorated with at least two octagons, in an early Renaissance painting of The Annunciation, early 1430's, by the Italian artist, Jacopo Bellini (1396?-1471?), church of Sant' Alessandro, Brescia. Bellini's exquisitely fine, and seemingly accurate, treatment of the golden robes adorning Mary, suggest that his depiction and appreciation of textiles was a matter of great interest, which would suggest that is depiction of the carpet was equally handled with as much care.
In 1886, Wilhelm von Bode discovered in an Italian church the iconic 15th century 'dragon and phoenix' carpet which now resides in the Islamic Museum, Berlin. That fragmented carpet depicts the highly stylised figures of a dragon and phoenix in combat, set within two octagons upon a yellow ground. The phoenix is seen to be swooping down upon the dragon from above with an elongated body, a jagged head and a feathered tail. The main border is composed of stepped scrolling S-motifs set upon a yellow ground which is this same border design that appears in Bellini's Annunciation, but with its colours reversed. Bode identified a carpet in Domenico di Bartolo's 1440 painting, The Marriage of the Foundlings with marked similarities to the 'dragon and phoenix' carpet. This marks the beginning of the "ante quem" method, which was subsequently further elaborated by the "Berlin School" of History of Islamic Art.
The Marby Bird rug, discovered in the Swedish church of Marby in Jämtland province, and which is now in Stockholm’s Museum of National Antiquities, is another of the group which was radiocarbon dated to 1300–1420. It similarly displays an octagon in each half of the field, each filled with a tree flanked by an inward facing bird. The tree is mirrored along the horizontal central axis of the octagon in a way which suggests its image is reflected in water. This ancient motif, common in woven silk and wool textiles from the early Middle Ages onwards. There is a close relationship between the Marby rug and the Berlin Dragon and Phoenix rug in style, colour and in technical details. Another example to survive from this group, now in the Vakiflar Museum, Istanbul, depicts two confronting birds or animals, flanking a tree, (Belkis Balpinar and Udo Hirsch, Carpets of the Vakiflar Museum Istanbul, Wesel, 1988, pp.190-1, pl.7). This archaic design tradition is found in art from ancient Mesopotamia but also suggests connections to Anatolian and other weaving traditions, (see Susan Day, ‘Tree of Life’, HALI 170, pp.86–95). The octagonal medallions recall animal rugs and the rectangular reserves are similar to those seen in large-pattern ‘Holbein’ rugs from the same period.
The colours on the present rug are astonishingly well preserved and are used to their maximum effect, which is typical of the very best early Anatolian weavings. The alternating green, red, blue and yellow lapets which survive to a greater degree along the upper edge of the rug, are striking in both their colour and their decoration, with a vertical cruciform stake emerging from a circle with a radiating collar. The border, of elibelinde form, is another ancient design that continues throughout Anatolian weaving history up to the 20th century.
This 'Phoenix in Octagon' rug, which appears for the first time on the auction market, and which has remained in the same private European collection for nearly thirty years, is a unique and rare survivor amongst the small group of known 'Animal' rugs in its depiction of the mythical phoenix.