The History of Usak Carpets                                                     

The Usak region represents the most important area in the history of the production of carpets not only in Anatolia, but of the whole world. In this article we shall try to identify the main characteristics which Usak carpets have had throughout the ages.

Main Features

Although unique characteristics are to be found in each period, these carpets all share the following feathers.

Wool warp: The warps of Usak carpets are always produced from best quality Anatolian wool. The warps in some carpets are dyed in the same colour as the base. Cotton or other materials are never used. 

Wool web: The webbing is made of single or double-strand thread. As compared to the warp it is less tightly spun. The web threads are usually dyed, and unlike other Anatolian carpets, they are triple dyed. Wool knot: Only the softest Anatolian wool is used in the knotting, whose threads are produced with the least amount of spinning possible. Carpets are usually double knotted, and sometimes triple-knotted.

Turkish knot: The traditional Anatolian Turkish knotting is always used in Uşak carpets.

Historical Development

The history of Usak carpets is revealed in the masterpieces of various European painters as Hans Holbein, Lorenzo Lotto, March Cheeroedts, Rafaelino del Garbo, Pinturicchio, Piera Della Francesca and Vittore Carpaccio. The paintings of these artists as well as others indicate that Usak carpeting has a background that extends even to before 15^th Century Europe, and may go back to the 11^th Century with the movement of the first Turkish tribes into Asia Minor and Europe. Unfortunately however no examples have survived which could prove this.

We shall divide the artistic history of Usak carpets into three main periods, as each new colour and design concept based upon the previous period, no sharp chronological distinctions can be made. Roughly however we may identify a Early Period, a Classical Period, and Late Period.

 

The Early Period

The oldest examples of this period belong to the 15^th Century. The use of geometric motifs in the Seljuk style is seen in these carpets, the most prominent examples of which are known as Holbein and Lotto carpets. Traces of Central Asian Turkomans are especially visible in the Holbein type. The colours most often used are navy blue, blue, Turkish red, golden yellow, with black and white in small amounts.

The Classical Period

We can trace the Early Period of U_ak carpets until the late 15^th Century, after which a new design concept appears; the geometric motifs of the Early Period start being replaced with more curved ones, and the medallion motif appears. Specialists in the craft were brought to U_ak from Azerbaycan on orders of the padishah, and these people played a great role in the change. Although the Persion influence is considerable, the U_ak craftsmen succeeded in converting the influence to their own spirit and understanding and turned out typical masterpieces.

The main types of the Classical Period consist of:

Medallion Carpets: We have many examples of these, which is the type most commonly on display in Turkish and European museums. Some carpets may be as much as ten meters long. Two types of medallion motif are employed; round ones place in the center, and half-medallions forming a row around the perimeter. There is generally a full medallion in the

center with two on the borders which are incomplete. This also holds for those on each of the sides. The remaining space is always filled with flowers, vine leaves, and branches. No element of these designs have a strict beginning or end, a fact which is related to the concepts of the mystic philosophy dominant in the period.

Star Carpets: Two different layouts are associated with this pattern. One has a field composed of a vertical arrangement of star-octagon-square elements, while the other has a field with one star-octagon-square element alternating usually with smaller octagons in a 2:12 pattern.

Other Types: Although most medallion and star Usak carpets are in red and navy blue, carpets were produced during the same period with white and ivory bases and a variety of other design combinations, the most important of which have motifs of birds, daggers, and animals. (There are also dagger designs on red bases.) In addition, there are other patterns derived from medallions and stars.

The Late Period

During both the periods described above, Usak carpets were exported to Europe where they received great attention. Usak carpets were recorded in paintings of kings and noble families, below thrones and on tables of imperial councils. Since we also see the coats of arms of various European nobles on Usak carpets, the implication is that special orders were also being accepted.

These Usak carpets, (sometimes called "Smyrna" or "Izmir" carpets after the city in Turkey from which they were exported during the 18^th and 19^th Centuries) became the Ottoman empires single most important export. Old-timers in Usak relate that at least one wagon load of Usak carpets was delivered to Izmir each week during the 1900's.

This is the equivalent of 5 to 6 thousand square meters a week.

It was during this period that Europeans, especially the British, started to impose their own tastes on the production. While the Early Period motifs had been slightly subjected to change, the essential characteristics of Usak carpets were never abandoned.

In accordance with demands from Europe however, firm, refined carpets, with fewer numbers of knots were produced. The production of large-sized carpets is a characteristic of this period. For example, a carpet with an area of more than 100 square meters was produced around 1910 for the London Library. Runners 20 meters long were also produced for corridors or staircases. The majority of carpets were produced with areas of 12, 16, and 20 square meters for hotels in Europe.

These is a vast choice of patterns and colours available during this period. Production favored mostly the "leaf", "Circassian", "Cyprus", "Persian" and "Wolf" designs, all of which bear the typical features of Usak carpets. In addition, Chinese designs were also produced on request.

It was during this period that English companies assumed a monopoly over exports of Usak carpets. The "Oriental Carpet Manufacturers", a company established in London, had a branch in Izmir and it brought up 90% of total exports, placing large volume orders. Domestic companies which struggled to avoid this monopoly and reach the European markets through their own efforts all ended in bankruptcy, since the "Oriental Carpet Manufacturers" could afford to sell below their cost price. After the suicide of one such loser, local Usak carpet manufacturers did try to cooperate with one another, but this time the English company brought in its own workers and started its own actual production, causing the Turkish cooperative effort to collapse. Ultimately, the English even established a woollen yarn factory in U_ak, thus completely dominating carpet production.

After a major fire in 1894, the whole of the city of Usak was destroyed. Left homeless, the villagers ceased carpet production completely, whereupon the English company made advance payments to those who undertook to construct a house and loom. As a result of these loans, Usak was reconstructed in a short time. Clearly the carpet business was one of great profitability so far as the English were concerned.

It was also during his period that carpet weaving in Usak became so popular an activity that the women of even well-off families were taught how to make carpets. When girls reached the age of seven, they were taught to weave and underwent a period of apprenticeship which lasted from four to five years depending upon their abilities. When the achieved the ability to produce perfect designs of their own, they were presented with their own scissors and weaving-combs by their masters, as a sort of diploma.

It would be no exaggeration to say that during this period, everybody -with the exception of the tailors, the barbers, and the carpenters- in Usak was weaving carpets. Older women in Usak still relate tales about the days when as young girls they continued weaving at night in the light of special lamps tied to their foreheads, while their menfolk prepared the woollen yarn for weaving.

In recent years the Durusel carpet company has been organising special training courses in order to restabilise this old tradition with the intention of combining the ancient ways of thinking with tastes which have been filtered through six hundred years of experience.

Source: Antika; The Turkish Journal of Collectable Art, February 1985, Issue: 11