WHAT TO BUY
Carpets & Kilims
A
carpet is more a work of art than an article that people walk on for
everyday use.seventy percent of tourists coming to turkey return home with carperts because turkey is a treasure house of carpets.
To understand how valuable turkish carpets are one must go back to their origin. For a nomad who lived in a tent home was a simple place a combination of walls roof and floor the floor was just a simple carpet laid directly onto the earth.
The carpet was a bug excluder soil leveler,temperature controller and comfort provider all in one.The texture of the metarial beneath one's feet was sensual proof that this was home and not the wild
Historically
there are fragments that exist from the 5-6C AD,but it is from the
seljuk period in anatolia that many pieces have survived Marco
Polo during his journey through seljuk lands toward the and of the
13C reported that the best and finest carpets were produced in
Konya.Since a carpet is more of a work of art the deeper meanings of each design should not be neglected A carpet can tolerate any extra element that does not contribute to its wholeness and value there fore just as in a poem a carpet pattern is chosen for its beauty and the motifs are carefully arranged to from rhymes.
Turkish carpets carry a wide range of symbols for many centuries.Anatolian wowen expressed their wishes fears interests fidelity and love through the artistic medium of carpets nevertheless there are typically repeated motifs which vary from region to region geometric tree of life central medallion prayer nichs in prayer rugs etc.
Turkish carpets are made of silk wool or cotton A silk pile gives a carpet great brilliance Cotton warped carpets almost always have a more rigid and mechanical appearance than woolen warped.yarns are used in their naturel colors or colored with dyes extracted from flowers roots and insects.
Tiles & Ceramics
Iznik (Nicaea) was the largest tile production center during the
Ottoman period.The iznik tiles were different from Seljuk tiles in
color and quality.According to the records of 17C traveler Evliye Celebi There were 340 ateliers of tiles in iznik when he visited there.When an Ottoman Sultan wanted to build a new building he sent a message to the governor of iznik.All the work was distributed to the ateliers.Tiles used for interior decorations were 24x24 cm / 9.45x9.45 in and 2-3 cm / 0.7x1.2 in thick In the beginning of the 16C,motifs on tiles had blue,dark blue and yellow colors an white background In the second half of the century more motifs were used and color combinations became more complex A certain shade of coral that was first seen in the middle of the 16C suddenly disappeared in the 17C which can only be explained with the death of its master.
By the 18C the ceramic industry in iznik had died out completely and kütahya replaced it as the leading center in western Anatolia For a while the Kütahya potters produced inferior copies of iznik blue and whites but they also began producuing ceramics whose forms colors and techniques were quite distinct. There is a third important group of turkish ceramics that is quite different from both the products of iznik and Kütahya Çanakkale ceramics have begun to attract the interest and attention of researchers and collectors more and more in recent years.
Marbled Paper (Ebru)
Ebru
is a traditional Turkish art Although the origins are unknown
it is likely that it came to Anatolia from central Asia Naturel dyes
mixed with ox gall are sprinkled with horse hair brushes upon the
surface of water in a deep ebru tray.The oily dyes are designed on
the surface of the water.After the design is ready tray size papers are
left on the tray to absorb all the dyes as they are with their formed
shape.
Ebru
is an abstract art in which a considerable amount of randomness is
involved The artist's control is decidedly limited as he cannot
determine the precise shape size or position of each droplet of color
what he does is to try to apply his colors according to the mood of the
ebru tray as he perceives it.The colors then float and expand depending
on the condition of the liquid and the tray the ambient
temperature the humidity and the amount of dust in the air.The ebru tray
has just as much to say as the artist or more in the kind of ebru that
is going to emerge.Copper
Copperware
production is very old and that copper mines have long been operating in
Anatolia copper is widely used in daily life for pots jewerly helmets
door knockers and to decorate doors It is a widely used material in
crafts there are four techniques employed to make copperware It is
wrought cast plated or press.
Evil Eye SouvenirsIt is generally believed that children or beautiful people are vulnerable to evil eyes either because of jealousy or over affection.Therefore people attach an evil eye with Maşallah ( god preserve) written on it on children's clothes or things to be protected against any kind of evil eyes.This eye is known as Nazar boncuğu in Turkish and is made of a blue bead as blue has a very effective impact,and acts as a charm to ward off evil influences from others.
In Turkey wherever you look,you ll see plenty of evil eyes looking at you.People hang evil eye amulets in their cars and at the entrances to their houses or offices It is customary to wear evil eyes in the form of jewelry;they come as bracelets, necklaces,anklets,gold or silver charms and pendants talismans,and earringd,etc