Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania
edited by Stefano Ionescu
text by Alberto Boralevi, Stefano Ionescu and Andrei Kertesz
1st English edition, Rome, 2005
260 Ottoman Rugs of the 15th-18th Centuries in the Protestant Churches of Transylvania and the Museums of Romania
Transylvania continues to be the repository of the richest and best preserved corpus of Turkish carpets outside the Islamic world. Almost 400 examples attributable to the golden period of Ottoman weaving from the mid fifteenth to the end of the eighteenth century survived here, including most of the classical groups such as 'Ghirlandaio', 'Holbein', 'Ushak', 'Lotto', 'Selendi', 'Transylvanian', 'Kula' and 'Ghiordes'.
Attempts to explain the presence of so many Ottoman rugs in the Lutheran Churches of the Saxon community in Transylvania have so far resulted in theories that range from the incomplete to the eccentric. The book begins with an overview of the relevant carpet literature, which for generations of scholars and rug enthusiasts was dominated by Emil Schmutzler's monumental study Altorientalische Teppiche in Siebenbürgen, published in 1933. This is followed by a succinct account of Transylvania's turbulent history, leading to an examination of the trade in Ottoman rugs and the ways in which such rugs were used and valued.
Colour images of more than 250 rugs, drawn from all the Transylvanian collections, are published together with technical analyses. The famous collection of the Black Church in Brasov is published in its entirety for the first time. Museum rug collections from Transylvania, as well as from Bucharest, are discussed with many additional illustrations.
The appendices include biographical essays on Emil Schmutzler and Teodor Tuduc, translations of the inscriptions on rugs, listings of rug locations and of all published rugs by collection, technical analyses, a discussion of oriental rugs in Moldavia and Valacchia and an extensive bibliography.
Published by Stefano Ionescu, Rome, 2005. ISBN 88-7620-705-0.
- Standard Edition (400 numbered copies)
- 226 pages, hardbound with dust jacket, size 24 x 34 cm
- over 300 colour illustrations, including 257 antique Turkish rugs and 18 photographs of churches exhibiting rugs
- over 70 black and white photographs and other illustrations
- map of rug sites in TransylvaniaPRICE: UKPound 105.00 (plus postage and packing - see order form)
Available from:
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© Stefano Ionescu, Rome, 2005: no part to be reproduced in any form without written permission.
