A 'Transylvanian' prayer rug, Ghiordes or Kula, West Anatolia, 18th century

This rug belongs to a cluster of ‘Transylvanian’ rugs attributed to Ghiordes or Kula in West Anatolia. Related examples are in the Evangelical Church, Sebeş, (inv. no. 46, Franses 2007, p. 97, fig. 53, cat. 37), and published in Batári 1994, pp. 73 and 187, and Ballard Collection of Oriental Rugs (Ex. Cat.), St. Louis, 1924, no. 29. Another was part of the collection of the late Ambassador Burton Yost Berry offered at Sotheby’s, New York, 31 January 2014, lot 28. The present rug shows a particularly generously drawn horse-shoe mihrab with a delicate cloud band outline. It reveals the direct influence of the magnificent Ottoman carpets produced in the court ateliers in the 16^th century, see the Pollak plain field Ottoman niche rug in the Museum of Islamic Art, Berlin (inv. no. KGM 1915, 64, Franses 2007, p. 163, cat. E3).

For a related Ghiordes ‘Transylvanian’ prayer rug of different colouration and more stylised drawing, see the previous lot in the present sale.