Name of Object:Marby Rug Location:Stockholm, Sweden Holding Museum:Museum of National Antiquities Date of Object:Hegira 700–823 / AD 1300–1420 Museum Inventory Number:SHM 17 786 Material(s) / Technique(s):Wool; knotted. Dimensions:Height 160 cm, width 112 cm Period / Dynasty:Ottoman Provenance:Anatolia, Turkey. Description:One of the few examples surviving in Sweden from a tradition of carpet–making in the early Ottoman period in Anatolia. In 1925, the so-called 'Marby rug', Sweden's oldest preserved oriental carpet, was found, cut in two pieces, at the abandoned church of Marby, a village in the province of Jämtland. Belonging to the group of animal carpets, it shows red, stylised birds standing symmetrically on either side of a tree set within octagons on an ivory ground. The birds and tree motif has been long known and very common in Central Asia. View Short DescriptionRug, called ‘Marby rug’ after the village where it was found. Its pattern shows stylised red birds standing symmetrically on either side of a tree. This motif was long known and very common in Central Asia. Original Owner:Church of Marby, Jämtland How date and origin were established:The rug was dated by radiocarbon (Carbon-14). How Object was obtained:Bought by the Museum of National Antiquities in 1925. How provenance was established:The patterns of the border and the guard strips are characteristically Anatolian; the guard strips also appear in another group of early Ottoman carpets discovered in the 'Ala al-Din Mosque at Konya, Turkey. Selected bibliography:Ådahl, K., Den Orientaliska Mattan i Sverige, Stockholm, 1998, cat. no. 1. Citation of this web page:Friederike Voigt "Marby Rug" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;se;Mus01_A;35;en Prepared by: Friederike Voigt
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