Communal Prayer Rugs

Some of the f,nest examples of Turkish carpets are the seccades to be found in the mosques and museums of Turkey.

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The word "seccade" comes from the Arabic "secd" to pray, and it became a floor covering, and later took the form of a carpet, as an expression of cleanliness, at the same time as being a reflection of the religious function of the mosque. 

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The use of a floor - covering for this purpose is not known in early Islam, where prayer was a communal event fot which prayer even bare ground sufficed. The major function of the seccade is to serve as a reminder of the mihrab, the symbol of the gate of heaven, for prayer outside the mosque. It became, with time, a status symbol of sorts, utilising a colour not often seen on floor - carpets, the sacred green.

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Communal, or "Saph" seccades, dating from 15th to the 19th centruies, containing rows of mihrabs for communal prayer, are among those carpets to be found in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art in Istanbul.

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The mihrab niche, as represented in the seccade, is stylesed, sometimes vestigial, reflects the development of mihrab styles, and contains the abstract and stylised details also found in the mihrab,but expressed in two dimensions. The saph combines the mihrab element with the notion of a communal act, alsı contained in mosque architecture, but in the "Saph", the most important difference being that the communal motif is portable.

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By considering the saph seccades found in the TIEM, we can identify the characteries of the saph rug, from the 15th century to 19th century.

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The oldest existing "saph" belonging to the 15th century (ill. 1-2) contains a kufic border on a red ground, remeniscent of the Seljuk carpet borders. It contains two rows of eight mihrabs, simple unformulated rows, containing niches framed with red, blue and cream bands on an aquamarine field. The finely executed border, when compared with the unformulated field pattern suggest that we have here the first attempts at such a genre. Other details typical of the era include hooked motifs, triangular and arrowhead designs, (cf. ill. 3), where a schematic mihrab is to be seen on a white field, containing hanging lamps in the centre and flanking the arch.

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The most strking innovation of the 16th century is the introduction of naturalist floral and geometric borders, replacing the Kufic designs, alongside this, the mihrab itself becames softer and more voluted, while in 17th century Gördes and Kula seccades a more architectural form replaces this. However, in 16th century seccades we do find realistic representations of votif lamps decorated with "rumis", while medallions of blossoming branches, filled with tulips and carnations, cover the field. In those 16th century carpets found in the Selimiye mosque in Edirne, they echoe the tiled panel decorations of the mosque. On other saphs from this mosque, chintemani motifs, much seen on the caftans of the sultans, are also to be seen.

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The only complete example we have of a Gördes saph dates from the 18th century, when this was the most important weaving centre in Anatolia. The niches in this carpet are stepped, typical of the Gördes type, and filled with firmly outlined motifs on alternating red and green fields, (ill. 13), so we see stylisation together with some elements of the western influence prevalent in the period, in the form of naturalistic floriate and foliate motifs, as in another Gördes saph (ill. 16-17)

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The Hindo - Iranian saph, with contrasting niche fields and medallion fillings, while bearing some resemblance to the seccades of the Ottoman period, can be easily distinguished, on a technical and stylistic basis from the Anatolian rug, with its characteristic red and dark blue field, goemetric filling motifs, and schematic floral motifs filling the niche. Another example of this type can be seen in illustration 19, a Kirsehir saph with contrasting blue and red fields, which bears the date 1896 (1312 H)

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From the examples given above, we see that the later "saphs" are insufficient in number to constitute a group, but by comparison of these with other seccades and carpets, it can be seen that, in general, as in other fields, the classic period of the "saph" shared its motifs with other branches of the minor arts, and from that period onwards, as şin general, we see a gradual stylisation of design and a degeneration of from and quality.

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