Gothic pinnacles and Ottoman rugs

There are two different types of design gracing the main border of some Ottoman rugs which are often called with the same term, Gothic border.  A misleading one.

The term Gothic seems to derive from a Transylvanian tradition. No more detailed explanation is given. Actually it appears to have been quite a generic one as  it was attributed to two different designs.

Gothic border 1

Gothic border 2

Despite  the  convenience of the name, it's actually  interesting to recognize two distinct designs which source from as two distinct models. 

The first is clearly derived from the Kufic ornate style as seen in visual media from the 14th century onwards and widely spread in the vast Timurid empire. This type is still  evident in the main border of few early Large Medallion Ushak, as the famous Castellani-Stroganoff . Here  the knotted Kufic design embraces a palmette composition. 

Timurid tile, late 14th  

Ushak Castellani-Stroganoff, border detail 15th-16th

When the Kufic style was not more on fashion the pattern morphed into the fully floral borders seen  in some Ushak rugs (for example the Small medallion Ushak). This pattern was largely used all over the Ottoman empire with many variants  depending on the local weaving tradition. The presence of two ornate leaves (called rumi leaf) is a marking point.

Iznik tile, rumi leaf, 1561

Small Medallion ushak, fully floral border, 16th

Central Anatolia, Medallion rug, 16th

Ottoman Quran, folio, 1574, The Walters Art Museum

On the other hand, the second border design shows an affinity with some illuminated borders of books, specifically  the Quran. As per related images the motif stands out as part of a medallion gracing the folio's border in given arrangements.  

Ottoman Quran folio, mid 16th, MAS

Lotto, 'cartouche' border, 17th. (from Rugtracker)

At least from the late 16th some western Anatolian weaving centers adopted this half medallion motif in the main border adapting it to their decorative vocabulary, much influenced by the style of the day, the saz style. Its arrangement suggests an allover pattern overlaid by the rug field in the same way as some Lotto 'cartouche' borders do suggest. Despite it appears more or less devoid  of its original silhouette and  floral features, a crowning palmette is still detectable. 
The pattern is found in the white Selendi rugs (Chintamani and Bird type), some white-ground double niche Transylvanian items and the Kiz Ghiordes type. 

Saz style palmette, Iznik tile, mid 16th

The Schwarzenberg Chintamani ushak carpet, 16th-17th (photo courtesy Alberto Boralevi)(see bibliography for references) 

A third design can be compared with these two. 

It is likely derived from the architectural decoration, as seen in 15th miniatures, and  since the early 16th Ottoman court artists studied various arrangements  to be used in different visual media. Some early dessins by Shah Kulu in the Baba Nakkash album are good examplars. Often it is arranged in a reciprocal pattern. Because of its source it is called crenellation or frieze.  

Baysonghur Shahnameh, early 15th

BabaNakkash album, Shah Kulu designs, 1520s

Ottoman Quran, reciprocal border, first half of the 16th

This pattern was mostly reserved to the upper panel in  prayer rugs, being firstly recorded in the Mamluk Ostler fragment and the Ballard Cairene coupled column exemplar. Very soon replaced by various floral decorations, it later surfaces in some Transylvanian coupled column rugs and in their central Anatolian heirs. 

Ballard Cairene coupled column rug, second half 16th

Konya prayer rug, 18th (Alberto Levi Collection)

  
Finally, beyond categories, crossbreeds are always to be expected.

'The term Gothic seems to derive from a 'Transylvanian tradition'.

Possibly the Transylvanian population marked via such name a summary affinity of these Turkish designs with the many pinnacles of Gothic buildings as seen in Budapest and Wien.

St. Stephan Cathedral, Wien.

St. Stephan, detail

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Image credits - Alberto Levi Gallery, "Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania" by S. Ionescu, 2007,  Christies, sale 2060, lot 50,  "L'Ushak Castellani-Stroganoff" by A. Boralevi, 1987 Firenze,  "From International Timurid to Ottoman: A Change of Taste in Sixteenth-Century Ceramic Tiles", by G. Neciplogu.Muqarnas 7 (1991): 136-70, Laure Soustiel, Arts de l'Islam, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Bibliographic references -
 "Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania" by S. Ionescu, 2007. 
"From International Timurid to Ottoman: A Change of Taste in Sixteenth-Century Ceramic Tiles", by G. Neciplogu.Muqarnas 7 (1991): 136-70.
 "L'Ushak Castellani-Stroganoff" by A. Boralevi, 1987 Firenze.
"A Carpet Unmasked" in Seven Hundred Years of Oriental Carpets, by K. Erdmann, p. 81