The “floral medallion” design, one of the most common for double-niche “Transylvanian” rugs, presents a central diamond-shaped motif with four small white flowers with eight petals inside and others of the same kind along the edges. Forked leaves extend into the field from the sides of the diamond, which presents stylised palmettes at the top and bottom. While the design of the spandrels can vary, the specimen examined here is perhaps the most typical, with large, stylised rosettes of a rounded shape containing a red octagon and surrounded by sickle-shaped leaves, which are again highly stylised. The border is also typical, presenting angular cartouches of alternating colour, each of which contains a hexagonal motif formed by the combination of two pairs of forked leaves and known as a “shield” palmette. While the cartouches alternate with octagonal stars in some of what are regarded as the earliest specimens, the shield palmette appears more schematic in later rugs and degenerates to the point of losing the forked leaves and presenting simple diamonds or abstract motifs that appear to recall an archaic and tribal style. Examination of these details of design makes it possible to establish a chronology of the various specimens, which were probably produced over the period from the early 17th century to the end of the 18th. It should be noted that, according to recent studies,¹ the design of these small rugs derives from that of the precious silk velvets (çatma) produced at the Ottoman court in Istanbul from the 16th century on and gave rise in turn to a more recent and commercial production of rugs in the second half of the 19th century, namely the “Kiz Bergama” type, which presents a pattern similar to the Transylvanian rug but very degenerate. Rugs like this can therefore be regarded as a link between the elegant 16th-century court production and the commercial articles of the 19th and 20th centuries. 

Many other specimens are known with the same decorative pattern, most of which are still in Transylvania and display a number of chromatic variants. One of those from the churches of Transylvania, now owned by the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest, is almost identical to the Cerruti rug.² It presents a finely balanced and proportioned design, and was produced in a good period, albeit not the earliest. The main border, accompanied by two secondary borders in white with small polychromatic rosettes, is perfectly centred, as is the diamond-shaped medallion, whose unusual bottle-green colour contrasts with the blue of the spandrels. 

Alberto Boralevi 

¹ See A. Boralevi, “Western Anatolian Village Rugs and Ottoman Silk Textiles”, in Istanbul 2007. 

² Published in Batari 1994, p. 136, no. 46.