The latest publication of the museum entitled ‘Transylvanian’ Turkish Rugs is published in Hungarian and English. The birth of this volume edited by Emese Pásztor is the result of years of collaborative work, as the Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest is one of the most renowned international centres of the research on Ottoman Turkish carpets.
The volume has two main objectives. On the one hand, it explores the history of the organization of the great 1914 carpet exhibition of the museum (Exhibition of Transylvanian Turkish Rugs) and the origin of the carpets on view: which rugs were included, which Transylvanian congregations sent carpets to Budapest. On the other hand, as a result of an extensive research most of the carpets have been identified: the current location of 251 rugs of the 312 ones exhibited in 1914 is known now.
‘Transylvanian’ Turkish Rugs fills a gap, as the large-scale illustrated catalogue planned for the 1914 exhibition has never been published. In 1914, the exhibition was accompanied by a ‘descriptive list’ containing only brief descriptions in Hungarian and black-and-white pictures of twenty rugs. That list has been a key source of carpet research ever since.
In the new volume, the history of the 1914 exhibition is surveyed in the studies of Hilda Horváth and Emese Pásztor, based on a series of – previously unknown – archival documents. The book was prepared in cooperation with researchers from Transylvania – Ágnes Ziegler, Iringó T. Horváth, and Árpád Csáki – and thanks to their contribution the history of carpets in the Transylvanian Saxon Lutheran Church as well as the Transylvanian Reformed Church can be presented. A more focused overview is dedicated to carpets of Háromszék County.
The catalogue includes photos (current or archival) or reproductions of most of the carpets exhibited in 1914 – of which 251 could have been identified so far. Some carpets have surely been destroyed, but it is obvious that a significant proportion of carpets of ‘unknown origin’ held by American and European museums and private collectors entered the art market from Transylvania.
The price of the book in Hungarian is 7900 HUF, in English is 8900 HUF (25 Euros). Due to COVID-19 restrictions the volume can be ordered only at info@imm.hu, and will be sent by post.
