Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 22. (Budapest, 2003)

Iván SZÁNTÓ: Reflections on the Origins of the Persian Appliqué from the Esterházy Treasury

NOTES 1 Tadkera-ye Sah TAHMÄSB (Berlin, 1343/1923), 7. Hereinafter: TAHMÄSB 1923. 2 This paper is part of a research project that aims at a comprehensive study of the Esterházy appliqué and that I am conducting at the Art History PhD School at the Institute of Art History, Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences of Budapest. The research is supported by the Centre for Iranian Studies there and the Hungarian State Eötvös Scholarship program. With regard to the suggestions received from the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest I should like to express my thanks first and foremost to Emese Pásztor, Keeper of the Department of Textiles, and also to Judit Krasznai, Anikó Pataki, and Réka Semsey, for their practical assistance. 1 should also like to thank Patricia L. Baker (London), Sheila R. Canby (British Museum, London) and Jon Thompson (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) for their telling observations. 3 GOMBOS, Károly: "Ein persischer Wandteppich aus dem 16. Jahrhundert", in: Ars Decorativa 7 (1982). 19-28. Hereinafter: GOMBOS 1982. The text has a shorter version in English. Idem: "The Esterházy Appliqué 'Carpet' in Budapest", in: Hali 27 (1981), 217-218. 4 For the first scientific treatment see VÉGH, Gyula: "Esterházy-műkincsek az Iparművészeti Múzeumban" [Esterházy Treasures in the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest], in: Magyar Iparművészet 23 (1920), 9—11. Hereinafter: VÉGH 1920. For a few sentences more see LAYER, Károly: Az Országos Magyar Iparművészeti Múzeum gyűjteményeinek leíró lajstroma, 37 képpel [Descriptive Catalogue of the Collections of the Hungarian Museum of Applied Arts]. Budapest, 1927, 46. CSÁNYI, Károly: "Az Ezeregyéj kincsei" [Treasures from the Thousand and One Nights], in: Magyar Művészet (1931), 269-282. Hereinafter: CSÁNYI 1931. For a slightly more detailed analysis, but on the basis of incorrect premises, see ACKERMAN, Phyllis - POPE, Arthur Upham: "Islamic Textiles, Carpets, Metalwork, Minor Arts", in: Pope, Arthur Upham - Ackerman, Phyllis (eds.); A Survey of Persian Art. Oxford, 1938-1939,2158 (vol. 3); PI. 1099 (vol. 6). Hereinafter: SPA. For later accounts see EFENDIEV, Rasim: Dekorativno-prikladno'e iskusstvo Azerhaydzhana. Sredni'e veka. Baku, 1976, 40-41. Hereinafter: EFENDIEV 1976; THOMPSON, Jon: Silk, Carpets and the Silk Road. Tokyo, 1988, pi. 38. Three studies deal with the applique's afterlife in Hungary: KATONA, Imre: "Az újabban helyreállított Esterházy-kincsek kiállítása az Iparművészeti Múzeumban" [An Exhibition of Newly-restored Esterházy Treasures at the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest], in: Művészet (1964/1), 29-30; KATONA, Imre: "Nyugat-magyarországi kincstárak (Az Esterházyak műkincsei I.)" [Treasuries of Western Hungary (The Art Treasures of the Esterházys I.)], in: Savaria 7-8 (1973-1974 = 1979), 277-301. Hereinafter: KATONA 1979. For a more recent treatment see SZILÁGYI, András: "I. Tahmasp sah (1524-1576) és udvartartása. Perzsa falkárpit az Esterházyak kincstárában" [Shah Tahmasp I (1524-1576) and His Court], in: Jubileumi csokor Csapodi Csaba tiszteletére [A Jubilee Bouquet for Csaba Csapodi]. Budapest, 2002, 281-290. The appliqué is mentioned in LUSCHEY-SCHMEISSER, Ingeborg: The Pictorial Tile Cycle of Hast Behest in Isfahan and its Iconographie Tradition. IsMEO Reports and Memoirs 14. Roma, 1978,54, 68, 111, 167; 111. 144. It is likewise mentioned in FEHÉRVÁRI, Géza: Az iszlám művészet története [A History of Islamic Art]. Budapest, 1987,268, and SZILÁGYI, András: Die EsterházySchatzkammer. Frankfurt/M, 1999, 80-81. The most recent surveys are THOMPSON, Jon: The Esterházy Appliqué, in Hali 33 (1987) 19-30; SZÁNTÓ, Iván: "The 'Wall-Hanging' of Shah Tahmäsb I in Budapest: a Re-Introduction"; paper read at the Fifth European Conference of Iranian Studies, Ravenna, 6-11 October, 2003 [forthcoming 2004] and CANBY. Sheila R. -THOMPSON, Jon (eds.): Hunt for Paradise: Court Arts of Safavid Iran, 1501-1576. Milan-New York, 2003, Cat. no. 12.18. Hereinafter: CANBY - THOMPSON 2003. 5 Idem, cat. no. 12.18. 6 CSÁNYI 1931,282. 7 For the first time in SPA, 2158. 8 First by VÉGH 1920, 10. 9 Though never became a conviction strong enough to argue for in a written form, the suspicion nevertheless had a considerable credit within early Hungarian scholarship. 10 ATASOY, Nurhan: Otag-I Hümayun. The Ottoman Imperial Tent Complex. Istanbul, 2000, 147-287 passim. Hereinafter : ATASOY 2000. 11 Eadem, nos. 140-141. 12 Eadem, no. 142. 13 VÉGH 1920, 10. 14 CSÁNYI 1931,282. 15 SPA 2158; EFENDIEV 1976, 40-41; GOMBOS 1982, 20. 16 CSÁNYI 1931,282. 17 ATASOY 2000,42-53, 121-122, et passim. IS MEMBRE, Michèle: Mission to the Lord Sophy of Persia, 1539-1542. London, 1999, 20. Hereinafter: MEMBRE 1999. IY FALK, Toby: "Royalty in the Field", in: HALI/59 (October, 1991), 119-120. Hereinafter: FALK 1991. 20 Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Supp. pers. 1113 folio 239 recto. The place of the depiction within the history of tents is examined in ANDREWS, Peter Alford: Felt Tents and Pavilions: The Nomadic Tradition and its Interaction with Princely Tentage. 2 vols. London, 1999, vol. 1, 554; vol. 2, 111. 99. Hereinafter: ANDREWS 1999. 21 We do not know how this scene was depicted in the original manuscript, compiled in the Il-khanid period (c.1314, London, Nasser D. Khalili Collection and Edinburgh, University Library), since it is not among its surviving fragments. For the World Chronicle in general see BLAIR, Sheila S.: A Compendium of Chronicles. Rashid al-din's Illustrated History of the World. Oxford, 1995, especially 110, note 45. 22 Among the "iconographers" also, two standpoints are