It is surprising how many antique Turkish pieces are still about, and in good condition, too. This is fortunate because today production is probably at its lowest ebb for centuries, both in quantity and quality. In its heyday, Turkey must have been a tremendous producer. Although very little is preserved from the early days (and even this is not altogether authenticated) Marco Polo described the carpets of Asia Minor as ‘the best and handsomest carpets in the world’. That it was indeed the Turkish rug (or Caucasian, but called Turkish) which first penetrated into Europe there can be no doubt, as witness the numerous paintings by fourteenth- to sixteenth-century artists showing rugs either as floor coverings or table covers.
It was inevitable that the Italian painters should be the most prolific portrayers of the rug, because it was through Venice that the European trade started, not only in carpets but in all other artistic products from the East. It is, however, the name of Holbein the Younger which lives on in rug lore, to describe the type of design frequently used by that artist. The term ‘Holbein Oushak’ describes any Oushak rug with a so-called ‘Holbein’ design, although some of the designs attributed to him were painted by other artists.
Spain also imported rugs from Turkey at a very early stage, probably through her Moorish connections. The Spaniards not only imported them but started to weave for themselves, the earliest surviving examples being very Turkish in character. These date from the fifteenth century. What kind of carpets Queen Eleanor of Castile took to England in the thirteenth century can only be conjectured. Most probably they were Turkish, or possibly Spanish.
Although the earliest pieces attributed to Turkey were very angular in design, by the sixteenth century a considerable element of curvilinear draughtsmanship appeared, and rounded forms with central medallion designs can be found in the products of Oushak. Undoubtedly this was due to the importation of Persian weavers and other workers into Turkey, especially after the military successes of the Turks in Persia during the first half of the century. Oushak appears to have been the centre of the craft, and some of the designs produced in those days are classified into categories of Oushak. For instance, there is the Holbein Oushak, the Star, the Bird and the Medallion Oushaks.
More in keeping with what we regard as Persian design and influence are the carpets now referred to as of Turkish court manufacture. These were almost certainly made by Persian craftsmen. Where they were made is not known, but the claims of Oushak are very strong.
It is known that the Star Oushak carpet arrived in England in the sixteenth century, for there are four carpets in the possession of the Duke of Buccleuch which were made in England to the order of his ancestor Sir Edward Montagu (1532-1602) and three of which are of typical Star Oushak design. Many authorities claim that these pieces are of actual Turkish manufacture, but the foundation threads of hemp or flax (not used in the Oriental product) and the fact that they have initials inconspicuously woven into various parts of the borders and field (for example, E.B. and A.N. each occur in two carpets), together with the dates 1584 and 1585 on two pieces, leave little doubt that this series was made in England. It is fairly certain, too, that they were copied from Turkish originals, with some variation in the borders to accommodate the arms of Sir Edward Montagu on each side and at the ends.
One other type of Oushak carpet must not be left out, although this brings us into the last century. The Yaprak design carpet, beloved of Victorian households and hotels, and variously called the Red and Blue Turkey, or just the Turkey carpet, was a commercial venture of the late nineteenth century, and indeed continued well into the twentieth. Thick piled, with a silky appearance, these carpets not only looked solid and trustworthy, events have shown that they really were solid and hard-wearing. Unfortunately they were copied profusely in inferior makes, but the genuine Yaprak Oushak was a good commercial proposition, and a fine trade with England existed at the turn of the century.
Historically, Asia Minor made a big contribution to the rug world, but apart from the prayer rugs and the Oushak weaves nothing much remains, until the nineteenth century when the Hereke Court woven carpet made its appearance. Later in the century, when commercial ventures saw the possibilities of supplying Europe and America in bulk with standard sizes and designs, made specially to furnish rooms in these continents, the town of Izmir, or Smyrna, became important as a distributing centre. Carpets and rugs were supplied in large quantities to the furnishing houses of the west, and it is from here that the Yapraks were shipped, along with carpets with Europeanized designs not the true French style, but specially designed for the European market in soft pastel shades. These were called Sparta, and were made in various districts not far away from Smyrna (notably Isparta, from where the carpet takes its name). Various qualities were made, and they became very popular, particularly in England.
Later, at the end of the nineteenth century, a Greek version, made near Athens, was marketed. The other contribution to the craft from Turkey is of course the Kumkapu, but apart from these few innovations, Turkey must rest on its sixteenth- to early eighteenth-century laurels in the world of the rug.