TURKISH BAZAAR Oriental Turkish Rugs

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Gullible's Travels:
Ruggie as Tourist in Turkey

by Steven Price

From Oriental Rug Review, Vol. 15/6

Lakai embroidered saddle cover, Uzbekistan, 19th century, silk on felt, 2'2"x2'3"

As luck would have it, our stay in Istanbul overlapped by three days that of our friend and sometimes supplier, Saul Barodofsky (Sun Bow Trading Company, Charlottesville, Virginia), who was there on a buying trip. We stayed in the same hotel (the Hali Hotel; where else!) and met for breakfast on all three days.4 One evening Saul took us to a fish restaurant for dinner with his friend, Ali Yildiz, an Istanbul dealer (Star Gallery, Grand Bazaar, Istanbul). The restaurant was pleasantly situated on the banks of the Bosphorus, and the fish was wonderful. How good was it? Well, with two ruggies and two rug dealers at the table, there was no mention of textiles during a long, convivial dinner.
The next morning Saul accompanied us to Ali's. Some time ago Saul had a Caucasian "tile design" vernay (verneh) that was marvelous in every way except for some synthetic dyes, and we had asked him to look for something similar with natural dyes only. He had passed this information along to Ali, who had not one or two, but four vernays (vernehs) for us to see. Two were especially nice, and one of them struck us with its colors and the sense of movement created by their arrangement in nested diagonals (Figure 3). We were sure this would be outside our budget, so I ordered up some apple tea for Ali. Turkish dealers are convinced of its effectiveness, I reasoned, so it must work on them. Ali demurred, confirming my suspicions, but I pressed on. After giving the apple tea a few minutes to exert its effects, I asked the price of the vernay (verneh) in as casual a manner as I was able to muster. The apple tea had worked! The figure he quoted was so far below our expectations that my jaw dropped, and my wife and I exchanged glances that told us we agreed. Within a minute or two, it was being wrapped for us to bring home.

Although we avoided most of Istanbul's rug shops, we did want to see the textiles in the city's museums. We were familiar with the Topkapi Palace collection, particularly the elegantly inscribed prayer rugs, from the book cataloguing them. However, although there's much for a tourist to see at Topkapi (including some terrific embroidered textiles), the rugs are not displayed and none of the guides even knew that any existed. The Vakiflar is in the same neighborhood (along with the Blue Mosque and Haggia Sophia) and, although not terribly well lit, has a small exhibition of excellent old rugs and no crowds. The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts (formerly a palace, built in the 1524) is directly across the street. It houses an extensive collection of excellent rugs and weavings, a bunch of 20th century Turkish rugs attributed to much earlier dates, and a furnished yurt. No ruggie in Istanbul should miss this museum. Another place that would interest the textile lover is the Dolmabahce Palace, on the banks of the Bosphorus in a newer part of the city. Not many rugs or carpets are displayed here, but there's lots of beautiful textiles (household furnishings and, especially, costumes). We were told that the Military Museum, which is near Dolmabahce, has complete field tents with the elaborate textiles in place, but we didn't learn that until our time in Istanbul was up. We had no inkling that a military museum might have things to excite us, although we thoroughly enjoyed our tour of the Naval Museum, especially the boats that carried the sultans. The receptionist, a young man assigned to the museum as part of his obligatory military service, sells rugs on the side.
 

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