DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23631#0028
were knotted around two warp threads and each row of knots was strengthened with wool threads,
with the pile ends sheared closely. The finer the wool, the larger the number of knots per square inch,
the higher the value of the rug. Eastern rugs — Persian, Turkish, Caucasian and Central Asian — were
matchless in beauty of colours and design. Rugs were also made in Arabia, India and China. The earliest
known rugs came from Turkestan. Eastern knotted-pile rugs were imported to Europe as early as the
Middle Ages, as can be seen in castle and church inventories and in pictures, Flemish paintings in particular.
There is evidence that rugs were produced in Europe already in the early Middle Ages, in Spain and also
in Poland, as can be deduced from the name of the village Kobierniki (from kflhiertgc, meaning rug in
Polish). Beginning roughly from the mid-i 5th century, Poland imported large quantities of rugs from
Islamic countries, mainly Persia and Turkey. Lvov was the principal centre of this trade, conducted by
Polish merchants, as well as Armenians, Greeks, Turks and Persians settled in Poland. Armenian
merchants living in Lvov had trading posts at Kaffa in the Crimea, the principal Genoese colony on the
Black Sea; they also maintained lively trade relations with Istanbul, Isfahan and Kashan. Trade with
the East was further facilitated by treaties concluded between Poland and the Ottoman Empire in the
1 5th and 16th centuries, with imports of Eastern rugs attaining their peak towards the end of the 16th
century, prior to the beginning of the Polish-Turkish wars. Apart from Lvov, trade in rugs developed in
Brody, Zamosc, Jaroslaw, Cracow, Warsaw, Gdansk and Krolewiec. As was the case with tapestries,
special requests were made as to Colour scheme, and the inclusion of armorial bearings in the design.
It is not surprising therefore that one of the most magnificent types of Persian rugs was called the
'Polish rug' (Tapis Polonais, though this appellation originated only in the. 19th century), probably
because the largest number of such rugs was to be found in Poland and because they were made with the
intention of exporting them to this country. Polish 16th and 17 th century inventories mention countless
oriental carpets — serving as wall hangings, table and bench covers and bedside rugs; they also specify
their origins as Anatolian (Turkish) or Persian with the addition of such qualifiers as 'huge', 'silk',
'semi-silk', 'motley', 'flowery', 'with a red background', 'in diamond pattern', or 'in pillar pattern'.
A great many oriental carpets were captured in battles and skirmishes with the Tartars, Muscovy, and
later the Turks, and brought home as war booty. It should be noted that at the time rugs and carpets
served not only as decorative elements but were also an essential part of the furnishing of tents. The most
magnificent carpets were purchased by sovereigns and magnates. In 1553, for example, Sigismund Augustus
instructed Wawrzyniec Spytek, who was setting out for the East, to buy 132 Persian rugs; in 1585,
Stephen Bathory purchased a large number of Turkish carpets; but the most important transaction came
in 1601, when Sigismund III dispatched an Armenian merchant, Sefer Muratowicz, to Persia with
instructions to order carpets bearing the royal coat-of-arms in Kashan, and supervise the work. Some of
these are now in the possession of the Residenz Museum in Munich, however they are not pile rugs knotted
in the eastern manner, but made in European fashion. Evidently this European technique was known in
Persia at the time. In 163 1, Jan Zamoyski the Archbishop of Lvov, presented twenty great carpets, each
bearing his coat-of-arms, which he had had specially made in Istanbul, to Lvov Cathedral.
There is reason to believe that as early as the 1 5th century rugs were also made locally, mostly in
Mazovia, in Sochaczew, Lomza and Czersk. Mazovian knotted rugs were of black and white wool,
woven in plant motifs in imitation of Persian and occasionally Chinese designs, and usually depicting
a vase with leaves and flowers. Two such rugs are now to be seen in the National Museum in Cracow and
in the National Museum in Warsaw. According to a surviving document dating back to 1585 Murat
Jakubowicz, an Armenian from Kaffa who settled in Zamosc, was granted the right to produce fine
morocco leather and knotted Turkish-style rugs (modo Turcico). Zamosc is assumed to be the place of
origin of a Turkish style 'Usak' carpet with the Odrow^z coat-of-arms and initials CW (probably for
Krzysztof Wiesiolowski, Lord Marshal of Lithuania, d. 1637), which is now in the State Art Collec-
tions at Wawel Castle.
Poland's growing prosperity during the reign of Casimir the Great, increased demand for both orna-
mental tapestries and clothes made of fine high-quality fabric. This demand could not be met locally be-
cause neither silk nor gold and silver threads were produced in Poland. As early as in the 14th century
Poland imported Italian silks — brocades, velvets and damasks — at first from Lucca, later mainly
from Florence. Nobles and rich patricians had their robes made of such fabrics, which also served to make
liturgical vestments. Similar imported fabrics were used for wall coverings, furniture covers, canopies,
screens and curtains. Large amounts of eastern ornamental silks were imported from Persia and Turkey,
with the pile ends sheared closely. The finer the wool, the larger the number of knots per square inch,
the higher the value of the rug. Eastern rugs — Persian, Turkish, Caucasian and Central Asian — were
matchless in beauty of colours and design. Rugs were also made in Arabia, India and China. The earliest
known rugs came from Turkestan. Eastern knotted-pile rugs were imported to Europe as early as the
Middle Ages, as can be seen in castle and church inventories and in pictures, Flemish paintings in particular.
There is evidence that rugs were produced in Europe already in the early Middle Ages, in Spain and also
in Poland, as can be deduced from the name of the village Kobierniki (from kflhiertgc, meaning rug in
Polish). Beginning roughly from the mid-i 5th century, Poland imported large quantities of rugs from
Islamic countries, mainly Persia and Turkey. Lvov was the principal centre of this trade, conducted by
Polish merchants, as well as Armenians, Greeks, Turks and Persians settled in Poland. Armenian
merchants living in Lvov had trading posts at Kaffa in the Crimea, the principal Genoese colony on the
Black Sea; they also maintained lively trade relations with Istanbul, Isfahan and Kashan. Trade with
the East was further facilitated by treaties concluded between Poland and the Ottoman Empire in the
1 5th and 16th centuries, with imports of Eastern rugs attaining their peak towards the end of the 16th
century, prior to the beginning of the Polish-Turkish wars. Apart from Lvov, trade in rugs developed in
Brody, Zamosc, Jaroslaw, Cracow, Warsaw, Gdansk and Krolewiec. As was the case with tapestries,
special requests were made as to Colour scheme, and the inclusion of armorial bearings in the design.
It is not surprising therefore that one of the most magnificent types of Persian rugs was called the
'Polish rug' (Tapis Polonais, though this appellation originated only in the. 19th century), probably
because the largest number of such rugs was to be found in Poland and because they were made with the
intention of exporting them to this country. Polish 16th and 17 th century inventories mention countless
oriental carpets — serving as wall hangings, table and bench covers and bedside rugs; they also specify
their origins as Anatolian (Turkish) or Persian with the addition of such qualifiers as 'huge', 'silk',
'semi-silk', 'motley', 'flowery', 'with a red background', 'in diamond pattern', or 'in pillar pattern'.
A great many oriental carpets were captured in battles and skirmishes with the Tartars, Muscovy, and
later the Turks, and brought home as war booty. It should be noted that at the time rugs and carpets
served not only as decorative elements but were also an essential part of the furnishing of tents. The most
magnificent carpets were purchased by sovereigns and magnates. In 1553, for example, Sigismund Augustus
instructed Wawrzyniec Spytek, who was setting out for the East, to buy 132 Persian rugs; in 1585,
Stephen Bathory purchased a large number of Turkish carpets; but the most important transaction came
in 1601, when Sigismund III dispatched an Armenian merchant, Sefer Muratowicz, to Persia with
instructions to order carpets bearing the royal coat-of-arms in Kashan, and supervise the work. Some of
these are now in the possession of the Residenz Museum in Munich, however they are not pile rugs knotted
in the eastern manner, but made in European fashion. Evidently this European technique was known in
Persia at the time. In 163 1, Jan Zamoyski the Archbishop of Lvov, presented twenty great carpets, each
bearing his coat-of-arms, which he had had specially made in Istanbul, to Lvov Cathedral.
There is reason to believe that as early as the 1 5th century rugs were also made locally, mostly in
Mazovia, in Sochaczew, Lomza and Czersk. Mazovian knotted rugs were of black and white wool,
woven in plant motifs in imitation of Persian and occasionally Chinese designs, and usually depicting
a vase with leaves and flowers. Two such rugs are now to be seen in the National Museum in Cracow and
in the National Museum in Warsaw. According to a surviving document dating back to 1585 Murat
Jakubowicz, an Armenian from Kaffa who settled in Zamosc, was granted the right to produce fine
morocco leather and knotted Turkish-style rugs (modo Turcico). Zamosc is assumed to be the place of
origin of a Turkish style 'Usak' carpet with the Odrow^z coat-of-arms and initials CW (probably for
Krzysztof Wiesiolowski, Lord Marshal of Lithuania, d. 1637), which is now in the State Art Collec-
tions at Wawel Castle.
Poland's growing prosperity during the reign of Casimir the Great, increased demand for both orna-
mental tapestries and clothes made of fine high-quality fabric. This demand could not be met locally be-
cause neither silk nor gold and silver threads were produced in Poland. As early as in the 14th century
Poland imported Italian silks — brocades, velvets and damasks — at first from Lucca, later mainly
from Florence. Nobles and rich patricians had their robes made of such fabrics, which also served to make
liturgical vestments. Similar imported fabrics were used for wall coverings, furniture covers, canopies,
screens and curtains. Large amounts of eastern ornamental silks were imported from Persia and Turkey,