MAMLUK CARPETS IN EUROPEAN PAINTING OF THE 15TH–16TH CENTURIES AS A TRIBUTE TO THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL ASIAN CARPETS FASHION

Abstract

The article is devoted to the legacy of Mamluk carpets - a separate caste of Egyptian military and military leaders of the 9th – early 19th centuries, who were recruited from enslaved Georgians, Circassians, Armenians, Polovtsians, Ruthenians, Bosnians, etc., born free at birth. Given their coming to power in the country after a series of successful victories over the Crusaders and the formation of the Bahrit Mamluk dynasty in 1250–1382, and later the Burjit dynasty, which ruled from 1382 to 1517, the phenomenon of their own "carpet art court" was formed, which provided the needs of the state leaders in highly artistic textile products.

From the 13th to the 16th centuries, the Mamluks owned large territories from Nubia to Kurdistan, including Jerusalem, Damascus, Aleppo, Basra, Tripoli, their lands bordered Iraq, Iran, and Armenia. Given the spread of fashion for status carpets, which were an obligatory part of the interior decoration of the rulers of the Eastern countries during negotiations and diplomatic receptions of foreign delegations, carpet weavers from the center in Tabriz, as well as Turkmen masters, were gradually invited to Cairo.

The research methodology is based on the principle of scientific comprehensiveness, art historical and historical approaches, axiological, ontological, historical-genetic, historical-chronological, comparative, typological, iconographic, art historical analysis method and compositional-design method

The synthesis of fashion for West and Central Asian patterns and technologies for making woolen products and individual experiments with silk threads led to the emergence of the phenomenon of a local carpet weaving school in Cairo, the tradition of which by the 14th century had already acquired stylistic and artistic-figurative perfection.

Conclusions. In fact, from this time until the end of the 16th century, despite the Ottomans coming to power in Egypt and the annexed territories in 1517, extremely expressive works for Africa and Asia were produced, which began to be introduced into the painting of European masters as works of a unique oriental tradition. At the same time, if at the beginning of the formation of the Cairo school of carpet weaving, geometric compositions of a «kaleidoscopic» type with stars and squares prevailed in products of this type, then gradually there was a transition to a greater use of floral motifs, characteristic not of the Girikhs, but of the Islims. In the end, 3 main types of composition of Mamluk carpets were formed, which today require separate study.

Key words: Mamluk carpets, painting, Europe, stylistics, decorative arts, fine arts, composition, design, artistic traditions.