The Influence of Turkic Culture on Mamluk Carpets
Carpets and rugs represent an important branch of the traditional arts and handicrafts of the Muslim world. Their study is included in various programs of IRCICA relating to arts, handicrafts and history of arts. Within the framework of IRCICA's Craft Development Program, "Carpets and kilims" constitute one of the main categories of the awards for handicrafts of the Muslim world. Furthermore, IRCICA devoted one of its scholarly meetings to this theme exclusively: an international symposium was organized under the title "Traditional carpets and kilims in the Muslim world" jointly with the Ministry of Tourism, Leisure and Handicrafts of Tunisia, in 1999, and its papers were published by IRCICA as a book. The theme is also covered within the framework of the congresses IRCICA organises on arts and the history of arts, with respect to the diverse artistic, aesthetical and functional characteristics carpets acquired in different periods, at different places. As part of this history, the carpets used by the nomadic Turks in Central Asia were, beyond their functional usage, an art which they carried with them in their journey to different lands where they ruled from the tenth and eleventh centuries onwards. They influenced the Mamluk carpets, which constitute the theme of this book. The latter were renowned and most valued until the sixteenth century.
This book by Dr. Sumiyo Okumura, a historian of art from Japan, is published by IRCICA. It is an extensive study of Mamluk carpets, their unique features and their evolution, with due regard to cross-cultural influences observable in this process. The authors technical analysis of twenty pieces out of to seventy-seven Mamluk carpets she included in the catalogue section of the book will be highly useful for researchers in the field. The study comes in an amply illustrated beautiful edition.