Journal of Art History

Abstract

The subject of this article is landscape depicted carpets woven in Kırşehir, Kula and Ladik in the 19th and 20th centuries, which constitute a unique group in Turkish carpet art in terms of motif and composition features. The number of carpets with landscape depictions in Anatolian Turkish carpet art is substantial. Carpets with landscape depictions registered in museum inventories in many cities of Turkey confirm this information. These carpets, which have enriched the Anatolian carpet art in terms of composition since the first quarter of the 19th century, should be considered as a separate group from other contemporary works with their motif and composition features. The motifs depicted on carpets with a view are highly stylized. In some carpets, efforts to bring perspective to house motifs can be seen. The same is true for tree motifs. In some of the detected carpets, the depth is partially felt as much as the weaving technique allows. In particular, these examples clearly show the motif that is desired to be depicted on carpets with a view. Although there are stylized house and tree motifs and garden depictions in the foreground of these motifs in the landscape composition, it is referred to cemetery rug, grave rug and friedhofteppiche in international sources. These terms have been translated into Turkish as graveyard/cemetery. Although there are different assumptions for the term graveyard or cemetery carpet, the most emphasized point is that the architectural elements depicted in the composition are likened to tombstones in some carpets. Deterioration or dissolution of the motifs is observed in some of the carpets with a view. There are also unidentified motifs. For this reason, it is possible to misinterpret the motifs when the carpets with a view are examined in the context of a few examples. In the samples examined within the scope of this study, no motifs that evoke a grave/cemetery were found in the composition. The result of this study, in which 22 carpets with landscape depictions, selected as samples from 84 carpets with landscape depictions, are examined in detail, the result is that it is necessary to evaluate the motif and composition features of the carpets with landscape depictions within the framework of the artistic characteristics of the period they belong to. When we look at the origin of Turkish carpet art, it is seen that the understanding of decoration is open to innovations. Although the motifs woven in the carpet art are accepted as the expression of the emotions of the carpet weavers, the influence of the cultural texture of the period on the carpet motifs is undeniable. The public is familiar with the landscape depictions that became widespread in religious and civil architecture in Anatolia in the aforementioned period. The carpet, on the other hand, impresses with its decorative feature as well as its function in religious and civil architecture. In this context, the landscape depicted in the composition should be accepted as the characteristic of the period in carpet art, as much as the weaving technique allows.