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

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

the iconography we shall proceed "outwards", from the artefact to history. 2. In the "Bermuda Triangle" of genres The Esterházy appliqué can be regarded as a kind of painting set in the strict geometry of carpet ornamentation and the fusion is executed in the medium of tent weaving. In this way, a rare Gesamtkunstwerk was made, but because the fusion cast it far from all three emitting genres, it fell out of the field of vision of the specialists in all three areas, and for this reason the three kinds of art historian did not regard this work of art as their own. In fact, it is a common denominator of the abovementioned genres, since it serves as a bridge linking them together. In the knowledge of this, the appliqué inevitably becomes important, in whichever direction we start out. In what follows, I shall survey the work from all three standpoints. I shall investigate the technical issues (I), the relationship with painting (II) and the connections with carpets (III), while in the meantime touching upon motifs occurring in surviving analogies as the most reliable chronological aids (II. 1-4). I shall continuously test previous research also, with regard to whether it can be fitted into a coherent account of the applique's history. Thus, finally, the one-time function of the Esterházy appliqué may come to light, at least on the level of cautious assumption, along with the patron's possible intents, and the art historical situation that brought the work into existence (IV). /. Periodisation on the basis of the technical evidence The fabric used in the Budapest appliqué is silk, supplemented with different kinds of sewn-on pieces - dyed leather, silk and cotton -, from among all of which we find original parts and modem additions. This technique is widespread in the art of the Middle East, primarily in that of the Ottoman Empire. Numerous fine examples - the great majority of them tent fabric - have survived in court arms collections in Turkey and in countries that formerly waged war with her.

10 Budapest

11 and the Esterházy castle at Fraknó (today: Forchtenstein, Austria) - where our subject was originally kept

12 - both boast a Turkish tent with appliqué work. Obviously it was this circumstance that led Gyula Végh, an early scholar, to postulate the possible Ottoman origins of the Esterházy appliqué, although he may also have taken into account the fact that in Persia there was almost nothing to offset the many relics from Anatolia.

13 Végh wrote: "The colourful appliqué can be traced back to the Persian miniature painting of the sixteenth century, although its execution attests to a later period and, perhaps, a Turkish origin." By means of this last remark the highly influential scholar divided Hungarian research with regard to the appliqué: from that time on, all attempts to date it opted for the sixteenth or the seventeenth century, depending on whether they were based on the depiction or the method used. Out of considerations of technique Károly Csányi and Imre Katona chose the later date,

14 while Phyllis Ackerman, Rasim Efendiev and Károly Gombos argued for the earlier, having taken account mostly iconographie aspects.

15 The contradiction between the two factors was realised only by Csányi, who endeavoured to bridge them by saying the appliqué was executed after 1600 to a design from the previous century.

16 Today it is still the seventeenth century that features in the museum's old records as the time the appliqué was made. It is indubitable that the overwhelming majority of the Ottoman tents in question - the Fraknó one among them - are not earlier than the seventeenth century, although from surviving relics of the perishable textile genres the full scale of the one-time repertoire cannot be established, even in broad outline. Most of the tents now in Europe were gained during the later phase (1606 - 1718) of the Turkish wars; in Istanbul, however, there are many examples from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries also. But we have a shortage of related examples from earlier centuries, and this is all the more sad since the secondary sources (Ottoman manuscripts and manuscript illustrations) tell of an extraordinarily rich material culture which has disappeared almost without trace. The pictorial