Papers by Stephanie Armer
Transottoman Matters, 2021
speaking population from northern Transylvania in autumn 1944. 3 The fiftyfive rugs in total have... more speaking population from northern Transylvania in autumn 1944. 3 The fiftyfive rugs in total haveb een studied in detail in the interdisciplinary research project "Early ModernO riental Tradea nd Transylvanian-SaxonI dentity Building: The Ottoman Rugs of the Protestant Parish Church A. C. in Bistritz/ Bistrit , a(Romania) in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum." For the first time, this article publishes findings of this project 4 by examining the history of a specific rug from the collection from the angle of the mobility underlying the Transottomanicapriority program.The Star Ushak (Fig. 1) chosen is particularly suitable for this purpose since its ornamentation is based on the exchange of stylistic elements with Persian centers of rug production. As aresult of a "design revolution," curvilinear floral motifs had partially replaced the geometric patterns previously widespread in both Persian and Turkish art. In the sixteenth century, mainly the rug weaving workshops associated with the Ottoman court in the area around Uş ak specialized in the new patterns. One of the most characteristic motifscomprised blue eight-lobed stars on ared ground decorated with tendrils. The rug examined in this article is probably the oldest of three small Star Ushaks in the Bistritz collection. Ap hotograph taken in the early twentieth century shows this particularly valuable rug laid over church pews in the choir of the parish church (Fig. 2). How did this rug, which wasp robably made in or near the west Anatoliant own of Uş ak, arrivei nB istritz and come into the possession of the church?C an the assumptions regarding its production in Uş ak be substantiated by writtenr ecords and art historical comparison?W ere Anatolian knotted-pile rugs such as the Star Ushak formerly kept in Bistritz church primarily used as prestige objects or did they serveother functions?Dothe preserved sources contain indications about how the rugs were perceived?And what can be gleaned about their production and use from the rugs themselves? To day, the original Bistritz rugs are important historical documents. In addition to their significance in terms of art history, their materiality, technique, and signs of ageing provide numerous pointers concerning how they were made and used. The rugs owned by other parishes which remained in Romania and also those kept in museums havebeen wet-cleaned several times, including recently. 5
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Papers by Stephanie Armer