Ghiordes prayer rug, West Anatolia, about 1700, 5ft.1in. x 3ft.9in, wool on wool, lazy lines. Light wear, a few scattered areas of old repiling. For its design, colours and proportions this is a great example of that particular type of West Anatolian prayer rugs, dating from the beginning of the 18th century, highly sought after by collectors. Price on request.
News and Updates
DISCOVER TRANSYLVANIA 2010: May and June tours
Susan Scollay and Stefano Ionescu invite you to join the next study tours:
Tour I: May 21 to 29 - for participants from Australia and Canada Discover Transylvania MAY
Tour II: June 11 to 19 - international tour - please contact or call Stefano Ionescu (mobile +39 3476703724) to register. Discover Transylvania JUNE
CLASSICAL SYRIA 30 April 2010: from Damascus to Aleppo and Konia
Greek, Roman, Byzantine, early Christian, Jewish, Armenian and Islamic vestiges in an Eastern Mediterranean country characterised by a variety of cultural influences.
Discover Transylvania 2008 – 2009
Photos and testimonials from the past study tours.
HALI 160, 2009: The Ottoman rugs from Bistriţa
Moves are at last underway to restore to their rightful home more than fifty Ottoman Turkish rugs taken fromTransylvania to Germany late in WorldWar II by the Saxon parishioners of the Lutheran Church in Bistrita, Romania. Since 1952, the rugs have been held in storage, ‘on loan’ to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg.
Institute of Arab & Islamic Studies, University of Exeter
Institute of Arab & Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, 9th July 2009
Merchants, Mercenaries and Missionaries: The Society and Culture of the Medieval Mediterranean, c. 500-1500
Academy Award
On December 2008 the volume Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania has been awarded the G. Oprescu Prize of the Romanian Academy in History of Art. This is the most important award for a book in Romania and also one of the very rare academic awards for a carpet book, worldwide.
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Schmutzler: Altorientalische Teppiche in Siebenbürgen
This is the first compact reprint of Emil Schmutzler’s famous book. It was meant to celebrate 75th years from the pubblication, by Anton Hiersemann of Leipzig in 1933, of the fundamental work Altorientalische Teppiche in Siebenbürgen. Download the borochure.
Sakip Sabanci Museum: In Praise of God: Anatolian Rugs in Transylvanian Churches, 1500-1750; Istanbul, Istanbul, April to August 2007
Exhibition at the Sakip Sabanci Museum in Emirgan, Istanbul curated by dr. Nazan Olçer and Michael Franses.
Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania – Second edition
A new, revised and expanded edition launched on the occasion of ICOC 2007.
Edited by Stefano Ionescu
Text: Alberto Boralevi, Stefano Ionescu, Andrei Kertesz
Museum für Islamische Kunst: Osmanische Teppiche in Siebenbürgen, Berlin, Oktober 2006 – Januar 2007
T
his is the first time after the great exhibition of 1914 from Budapest that rugs from the Transylvanian Lutheran Parishes are exhibited abr oad.
23 outstanding Ottoman rugs, from the secont half of the 15th century to the end of the 17th century, from the great Parish collections of Brasov (Kronstadt) and Medias (Mediasch) and from smaller Transylvania Parishes – Bagaciu (Bogeschdorf), Ghimbav (Weidenbach), Halchiu (Heldsdorf), Richis (Reichesdorf), Rupea (Reps), Sânpetru (Petersberg), Valea Viilor (Wurmloch) –, with examples from the Brukenthal Museum in Sibiu were exhibited at the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin.
Download the brochure of the exhibition (German)
Accademia di Romania: Tappeti Anatolici dalla Transilvania, Roma, Aprile 2005
Discover Transylvania 2004 – Marilyn R. Wolf reports
October 2004: rug-tour to Budapest. See report
Marilyn Wolf writes: Transyvaniacs met again in Budapest under the intrepid guidance of ‘Il Professore’, the ever-scholarly Alberto Boralevi, the indefatigable Stefano Ionescu, and aided by the wonderfully erudite Professor Ferenc Batári. Some 22 Italians and three Americans continued the on the trail of the “Hungarian” Transylvanians during 14 – 17 November 2004.
We were privileged to search the storage of the Applied Arts Museum, where we saw some beautifully conserved and maintained Transylvanians. We saw the breathtaking “Crevelli” on view at the Nagyteteny Castle and marvelled at the Transylvanians on public view at the Hungarian National Museum.
April 2004: rug-tour to Transylvania. See report
HALI 157, 2008: Lost in Transylvania by Judith Glass
HALI 157
Lost in Transylvania by Judith Glass
An amusing account of an eventful tour of Romanian Transylvania, led by Alberto Boralevi and Stefano Ionescu, in search of the the rug collectors’ Holy Grail, seen by the keen eye of J. Glass, one of the participants.
Download the article.
SIEBENBÜRGISCHE ZEITUNG, 30 Juni 2008
Weltweit einzigartige Sammlung
Stefan Ionescu hat die Siebenbürger Orientteppiche hervorragend dokumentiert
by Dr. Michael Buddeberg
Download the article.
Erdélyi Oszmán Szônyegek
Budapest, Se
ptember 2007. The Hungarian version of the book, dedicated to Ferenc Batári, was presented on the second anniversary of his death.
Feri’s vast knowledge of the complex history of the region, including the religious background and the trade with the Ottoman Empire, qualifies him as the greatest expert on ‘Transylvanian’ carpets of the 20th century. As a rug scholar Feri had a life-long experience on Anatolian weaving.
As a consultant to the project, Ferenc Batári has been a major contributor to this work.
In the section In Memoriam Ferenc Batári the editor assembled short articles written by some of the closest friends of Feri: Edmund De Unger, Dr Nazan Ölçer, Dr Beata Biedronska-Slota and Prof Géza Fehérvári .
The complex process of reviewing the translation is due to the efforts of:
Dr. Emese Pásztor, Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest, Andrea Papp from the History Museum of Transylvania in Cluj, and of rug enthusiast Botond Bilibók, Concorde, Budapest.
The XIth International Conference on Oriental Carpets , Istanbul 2007
The XIth International Conference on Oriental Carpets , Istanbul 2007
STRUCTURAL STUDY OF TRANSYLVANIAN GROUP AND IMPLICATIONS
FOR ATTRIBUTIONS TO ANATOLIAN CARPET PRODUCTION CENTERS
Presented by Ali Riza Tuna & Stefano Ionescu
Abstract : This paper is grounded on the information assembled during the preparation of the volume Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania , regarding over 250 examples of the “Transylvanian” group from Romania, Hungary , Germany and also from Turkish museums. The study shows the strong correlation existing in some cases between design and technical features, such as “stitchlike wefts” and weft colour changes, which can be used as “markers” of different groups. Extended statistical data , regarding these features is presented and analysed for the fist time , helping a more accurate attribution of “Transylvanian” group rugs to specific weaving centers from Anatolia.
Download the program of the conference.
GHEREH 42, 2007: Mostra al SSM
Mostra al Museo Sakip Sabanci di Istanbul
In Praise of God: Anatolian Rugs in Transylvanian Churches 1500-1750
Stefano Ionescu
Download the article.