Lot 147

DÖSEMEALTI RUG

Hand knotted wool carpet on wool warp. The hand-spun quality wool of these rugs is renowned in Turkey itself, and the iconography of these pieces has remained somewhat unchanged for several centuries. The surviving pieces from the 18th and 19th centuries vary in colour and detail, but the basic scheme remains the same. This specimen has the typical inner and outer oleander border with stars, rosettes, small triangles and oblique oleander flowers. In the broad main border we find the maroon-coloured motifs of the stylised dragon, which once captivated Ottoman artists on imported Chinese art (especially on silk and porcelain), and its stylisation in Islamic settings took a highly abstract form. However, as in China, the dragon was seen as a very powerful protector of luck and life. The stylised dragons alternate with a white contoured motif, resembling a dwarf cicada, but in the Anatolian setting symbolising the matriarchal motif of a woman with her hands on her hips (the so-called 'elibelinde'), which represents, among other things, fertility and the sanctity of motherhood. In a carpet with central cross medallions, one can also discern the pitrak ('thistle') motif - once upon a time this symbol was probably solar in nature and has been reinterpreted over the ages, while today it is seen in more recent Turkish carpets as an element protecting human happiness.