Astral Lights

Achaemenid rosette, 500-400 BC, Tehran

Islamic architectural art during the early Abbasid period presents an adult, rich and conscious language full of consequences for the centuries to come.
Seljuk art in Anatolia, Iran and partly Central Asia sum up and codify many features of it and offers
a safe reference so far for the history of carpet designs, once pointed to its complex origin.
And commonly, Seljuk decorative heritage is to be seen in Anatolian carpets centuries later.

The 'rosette' woven in the niche spandrels is the case at point here.
The generic term does not refer to a realistically depicted flower yet to a device stressing a specific point in a pattern. Weavers were usually able to depict flowers although stylised. In some cases they wove geometrically inspired motifs, instead.
Architecture looks like to be a major source of inspiration. Mihrabs and doorways of important royal buildings (mosque, caravanseray, school, mausoleum) in all the Islam-influenced regions sport the use of two discs flanking the arch vault from the Mediterranean shores to the Indian area.

How this feature found its way into Islamic architecture is not clear.

Al Walid I, the sixth Umayyad caliph reigning 705-715, is reputed for the powerful insight of architecture as a cultural propaganda means. He is credited to have initiated the Great Mosque of Damask, the Al Aqsa in Jerusalem and the Prophet's in Medina. But witness of the two discs in a mihrab are found only somewhat later in two marble panels: one in the Great Mosque of Qairouan, Aghlabid period 9th, the second in the cave of the Al Aqsa mosque, 9th (Whelan).
Probably a late classic use of spandrel bosses instilled the usage as in a Tulunid example in Egypt, and obviously in Aghia Sophia in Istanbul.

The marble panel flanking the mihrab in Qairouan is reputedly dated 862-875 as well as the upper mihrab vault decoration where again miniature mihrab and rosette are matched.

Qairouan mosque, 9th marble panel aside the mihrab

Qairouan detail

Marble mihrab, Al Aqsa's cave, 9th

Aghia Sophia, marble bosses within arches, Istanbul

Ibn Tulun mosque, 9th/10th Cairo, round bosses 

Further east in the Samanid mausoleum of Bukhara, 892-943.

🍀Seljuk architecture developed them with its proper geometric interlacements.

Beyekhim mosque mihrab, Konya circa 1270 , Museum of Islamic Art Berlin

Esrefoglu mosque, mihrab, Beyshehir Anatolia 13th

Gok Medrese, Amasya, Anatolia, 13th 2nd half

Seljuk Iran, Moya Carey's Instagram photocredits

In addition, a single such element stands over the mihrab or shines amids inscriptions, nearly a sacred, superimposing presence. Floral interlacements are soon introduced.

Mihrab in Sultan Hassan mosque, mid 14th, Cairo

Arslanhane mosque (1290-1330), mihrab Ankara

🍀The two discs have been interpreted as the moon and the sun.

There are actually some lines in the Quran that seemingly confirm this interpretation.

sura 25, verse 61:
"Blessed is the One Who placed the constellations in heaven and placed therein a lamp and a moon giving light."--
sura 71, 15-16:
"Did you see how God created seven heavens one above an other and made the moon a light therein and made the sun a lamp". 
Quran 6:97
"And it is He who ordained the stars for you that you may be guided thereby in the darkness of the land and the sea"

The two discs might be the sun and moon, but also the stars (curiously they are often inscribed with a star). The stars are reflections of the glory of the creator, the organising principle of all the stellar and planetary systems.

Allah is the true light of the heavens and the earth. This supreme light is also called the Light of the Prophet since he is the created being who received the major quantity of it to the point that Allah calls him in the Qur’ān “an illuminating lamp”. Consequently, a single disc/rosette in preeminent place may refer to both, Allah or Muhammad.

Interestingly, rosettes are depicted also in sacred scripts to help the reader (and guide him throughout the deep darkness of the divine words)

Quran's folio, 13th-14th c. Spain, the Metropolitan Museum

Not only an Islamic usage

Leningrad Codex, 1008 

Stars in fact are lamps in the night sky. From Cairo comes the meme of a star  replacing the light of the lamp. Depictions of interlaced stars (medallions) within a niche will be common in early Anatolian carpets

Mihrab, pre-Fatimid Ibn Tulun mosque, Cairo

Saph carpet, Anatolia, 15th, TIEM

And Stars seem indeed to be interchangeable with the Sun and Moon motif in the architectural language.

Gok medresse, Sivas, 1271

A subliminal reference to the person of the Prophet via the rosettes is pointed out by Whelan in her analysis of the designs in the Jeruslamen cave mihrab. The spear-like forms upsidedown  supposedly represent the aznah, the spear that Muhammad used to have planted on the ground to indicate the qiblah and to serve as a boundary for his praying space (E. Whelan, The Origins of the Mihrab Mujawwaf, p. 214,215).

The unadorned Jerusalem rosette foresees way later examples created by the weaver's unfettered imagination (Ralph Kaffel, Hali autumn 2008).

Niche carpet, Central anatolia, circa 1800, published Alberto Levi Textile Art 1, 2000

🍀The carpet tradition more attached to this architectural element looks like to be that of the Anatolian prayer rug. In Mamluk Egypt there exists only one now residing in Berlin, dated to circa 1500. The spandrels incrusted with an allover tracery present two octagonal star medallions of the so called 'Crivelli' type.
No trace of the device in Iranian/Safavid creations so far.

Niche carpet, Mamluk Egypt, circa 1500 Museum for Islamic Art Berlin

Ottoman exemplars do not sport it in favour of a floral decoration which can vary from arabesque to diverse floral arrangements following decorative patterns on fashion in the period.

Cairene-Ottoman niche carpet, second half 16th, MAK Vienna

Real rosette was indeed one of the main beloved botanical species.

Iznik tile niche panel, III quarter of the 16th, the David Collection

                                 

🍀Quite curiously, rosettes appear primarily in a unique family of antique Anatolian rugs, the so called Transylvanian. And, mainly in one subgroup: the double-niche type  (S. Ionescu, Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania, 2006).
Matched with a serrated leaf on the vault apex the rosette creates a formulaic pattern. Rarely, it occurs in other formats (idem cat 148). It does not in the single stepped niche type where favoured is the carnation and serrated motif.
The distribution and combination of decorative sets in Transylvanian rugs do apply rules created for the carpets while instilled by the diverse decoration of real mihrabs (not always the two discs are represented). Safely it can be said that as weavers wanted to knot flowers they were able to do. O the other hand the rosettes geometrically depicted strongly recall those above addressed to.

The famed 1610 edict by Sultan Ahmed forbidding religious designs in carpets destined to unbeliever commissioners would not relate to them nor to lamp and arch as they are motifs shared with other cultures.

Along the 17th century the 'rosette' appears as an octagon with a leafy irregular frame, inscribed with a geometric layout, while architectural mihrabs persevered to depict them undisturbed.

Double niche Transylvanian carpet,  Anatolia 17th 2nd half, Sibiu, Hali photocredits

Double niche Transylvanian carpet with medallion, Anatolia, 17th 2nd half, Ambassador Berry collection

Single niche Transylvanian carpet, Anatolia 17th 1st half, Madrid Instituto de Valencia de Don Juan

In the meantime realistic floral spandrels do abound in Transylvanian carpets .

Niche Transylvanian carpet, 17th Anatolia, Sothebys photocredits

Niche Transylvanian carpet, 17th/18th, Hali archive

Iznik tile panel, Rustem Pasha mosque Istanbul

The astral discs heritage enjoyed a long karstic life in genuine Anatolian village rugs moving for the  loyalty to ancient traditions. The outer border of the carpet below is again a Seljuk design.

Anatolian niche carpet with re-entry, Sothebys photocredits via rugtracker.com

Torumtay mausoleum, 1271, Amasya

Bibliography
A. J. Lee, 'Islamic Star Patterns'. Muqarnas 4, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1987
Tony Lee & Ayman Soliman,  Geometric Rosette : analysis of an Islamic decorative motif, August/September, 2014
E. Whelan, The Origins of the Mihrab Mujawwaf: A Reinterpretation, Cambridge University Press 1986.
E. Baer, The Mihrab in the Cave of the Dome of the Rock, Muqarnas 1985
A. Fotheringham, A Warrior's Magic Shirt, V&A blog
O. Felek, Fears Hopes and Dreams: The Talismanic Shirts of Muhrad III, Brill 2017
S. Ionescu, Antque Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania 2006
R. Ettinghausen, The Early History, Use and Iconography of the Prayer Rug 1984
R. Kaffel, Unusually Anatolian, Hali Autumn 2008

The Crown Door of Keyqubad the Great

Niche rug, Central Anatolia 17th, Alaeddin mosque - Konya found, TIEM

An extraordinary rug with an extraordinary niche shape.
The carpet was found in the properties of the venerated old Alaeddin mosque in Konya. Expertly comments faintly mention the very long niche.

The eye should also point to the vault profile only superficially bizarre. It is hard not to detect the attempt of the weaver to render a difficult design. In fact, with the exception of the first fold on the right side, the drawing appears well mirrored in both sides as if actually an interpretation of a definite image.

The medieval Seljuk architecture in Konya curiously offers several examples of similarly drawn arches in crown doors, or portals, and mihrabs. The livery of the city's most important buildings is due to the most renowned of the Seljuk Sultans, Alaeddin Keyqubad I (r. 1220-1237). Although not an innovator he was a sensible interpret of his time and, specifically, architecture. A family affair indeed,  if also one of his wives, the Greek Mahperi Hatun, used her influence, wealth, and creative intelligence to commission an important series of monuments after the death of her husband.

Mahperi Hatun mosque, crown door, 1238, Kayseri

Keyqubad I the Great signed the  apogee of the Seljuk power and cultural influence in Anatolia leaving a momentous legacy of culture and architecture gracing tows and deserted plains. Apart from reconstructing towns and fortresses, he made built many mosques, medreses, caravanserais, bridges, and hospitals. Konya, Kayseri, Sivas, Alanya, Erzurum, Van, Ahlat bear his cultural marks . Besides completing the royal palace in Konya, he also erected the Kubadabad on the shore of Lake Beysehir and a winter palace in Kayseri.

A unique stylistic mark of this legacy appears in the crown doors, or portals, and mihrabs. The indented vault profile presents the alternating sections of the muqarnas decorating its carved surface. In the stone or stucco works the profile can follow the curved and angular sections giving a sense of nearly cluttered drawing from a distance, because of the variety of the muqarnas' vault shape. The tile mihrabs, otherwise, simplify the design using only a type of section, the angular, because mostly the muqarnas have not a curve vault themselves. Finally, the mihrabs render a stepped profile more or less sharp, the doors a lobed.

Dundar Bey medrese, 1238  Igidir lake

Seljuk medrese, Kayseri (winter station of Keyqubad I)

Sahip Ata mosque, tile mihrab, 1258-1283, Konya

Beyhekim mosque in Konya, mihrab, 1270, Museum of Islamic Art Berlin

One specific mark appears in the carpet design, the exceedingly tall vault and the relatively short sides.

Long vaults are not unusual though.

Esrefoglu mosque, Beyshehir 

The triangle connecting vault and side in the carpet appears in tune with the tile mihrab where a diamond functions as reduced capitel as well as the column pedestal is. But even stone crown doors present the same feature.

Beyhekim mosque detail

Agzikarahan caravanseray portal, Cappadocia

This styled niche enjoyed a long life during the Ottoman period.

In the 15th century

Hasbey-Darul-Huffazi mihrab, Konya, 1421

Ibrahim Bey Imaret in Karaman, 1432

In the 16th century

Suleymaniye mosque, Istanbul 1550-1557

Just a handful of decades separates these last examples from the carpet at issue.

Should be remembered also that Keyqubad's fame survived over the centuries: streets, squares, and important buildings were entitled to him.
Even deserted plains bear his landmark in the caravanserais he commissioned where again the vault drawing reverberates his name.

Sultan Keyqubad I han, Sultanhani Aksaray province

The fact the carpet resided in the Konya mosque entitled to him looks like irresistible evidence of it being inspired to the Sultan's Crown Door type or mihrab.

This short overview of Anatolian Ottoman vaults suggests explaining some other Anatolian Ottoman niche carpets dated to the 17th century.

Loosely inspired to the Keyqubad vault seems this type of 'Transylvanian' niche. 

But there are some exemplars where the niche profile seems quite swaying echoing the celebrated mihrab in the Damascus Umayyad Mosque showing a geometric-like swaying to follow the cross section of the interior muqarnas work.

Detail of the Umayyad mosque mihrab in Damascus

Hali photocredits

Columns may be also hinted at

Transylvanian plain niche carpet, Anatolia, 17th, Germanisches National Museum Nurember, S. Ionescu photocredits 

Strictly inspired to a diminished Keyqubad vault is this 'Transylvanian' stepped niche type

Stepped niche, Anatolian Ottoman carpet 17th

Cifte minareli medrese, detail of the crown door, Erzurum

So many are the epigones in the diverse provinces of Anatolia in the 18th and 19th century that the reader can discover them at his leisure not neglecting the kilim area.

Niche kilim, Ghiordes, dated 1774, the Metropolitan Museum

One for all the renowned Ladik stepped niche carpets

Stepped niche carpet, Ladik - Konya region, circa 1800, Saint Louis Museum

Note
After the publication of this entry I have come across a note by Ralph Kaffel on the carpet at issue published in Hali, Autumn 2008 p. 87



Bibliography
Arık, R., Kubad Abad, Istanbul, 2000.
Aslanapa, O., Anadolu'da Türk çini ve Keramik Sanatı (Turkish Art of Tile and Pottery in Anatolia), Ankara, 1965.
Oral, Z., “Kubad Abad çinileri (Kubad Abad Tiles)”, Belleten, Vol. XVII, Issue: 66, Ankara, 1959, pp.209–22.
Önder, M., “Selçuklu Devri Kubad Abad Sarayı çini Süslemeleri (The Seljuq Period Tile Decoration of Kubad Abad Palace)”, Türkiyemiz6 (1972), pp.15-18.
Öney, G., Turkish Tile Art, Istanbul, 1976.
Roxburgh, D. J. (ed), Turks: A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600–1600, London, 2005

Saljuq_buildings_-the_introduction_of_an_Iranian_decorative_technique_into_the_architecture_of_Anatolia, McClary 2013

S. Ionescu, Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania, 2006