25.ULUSLARARASI ORTAÇAĞ VE TÜRK DÖNEMİ KAZILARI VE SANAT TARİHİ ARAŞTIRMALARI
PRAYER RUGS OF SİVAS
Yazarlar:
Suzan BAYRAKTAROĞLU
Yayıncı:
Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi Yayınları
Carpet weaving in Sivas started after the Seljuks came to the region. It is understood from travel books, written sources and some carpets in museums that very valuable carpets were woven in Sivas during the Seljuk and Ottoman periods. An important group among Sivas carpets is prayer rugs. The prayer rugs woven in almost every corner of Anatolia reveal the characteristics of the place they are woven with different colors and patterns. Sivas prayer rugs reveal the characteristics of Sivas region with their unique motifs and compositions. Traditional prayer rugs were woven in Sivas until the 19th century. These prayer rugs usually have a wide mihrab niche with a long neck and a small rhombus, hexagonal or octagonal mihrab crest that opens to the sides. There are symbolic motifs such as large, ram’s horns, small rhombuses with hooks, -S- motifs, hair ribbon, amulet, comb, and eightpointed star inside the niche and on the niche corners. There are two ewer motifs, which are symbols of cleanliness in Islam, on the spandrel. In some, the mihrab is empty. Three types of patterns are seen on the borders of Sivas prayer rugs. In the first pattern, there are branches evenly spaced on a trunk. These branches are placed on top of each other on the two long sides and side by side on the two short sides. It usually has a brown pattern on a light yellow or beige color. It is the most common border pattern in prayer rugs. The second pattern consists of rosette flowers. These are in red, blue and green colors on a light ground. The third pattern consists of large geometric shapes. They are hooked, S-shaped, baklava-patterned. In addition, sivastika motifs found in some examples that in some 15th century Konya and Sivas carpets are seen. In Sivas prayer rugs made with the Turkish knot system, brick red, yellow, brown, black, white, beige, less green and blue colors were used. The material is wool. Also in some white colors was used cotton. There are prayer rugs called Tonus prayer rugs. These prayer rugs have a stepped mihrab crest like Kırşehir prayer rugs. In the niche of the mihrab, there are layers of floral motifs in accordance with the angle of the crest. Besides the Sivas prayer rugs, there are also prayer kilims. These, too, have the same mihrab shapes as carpet prayer rugs, which are woven according to tradition. Differently, there are small palmette and hand motifs on the borders. There are also prayer kilims woven in the form of saf prayer kilims with more than one mihrab motif side by side. These are double mihrab or single mihrab. In this paper, the common color, pattern and composition particulars of the prayer rugs woven in Sivas region will be revealed, their differences from other regions will be defined and the Sivas region prayer rugs with common particulars will be introduced. The prayer rugs to be introduced are compiled from the mosques in Sivas and its surroundings, they are in the Sivas Gök Madrasa Foundation Museum and belong to the 18th-19th centuries.
