About the tapestry Oltenian paradise 300 x 200 cm, (probably) interwar workshop
This masterpiece of peasant art, probably executed in a monastery workshop in Oltenia, in the interwar period, presents an image full of life and defining elements of the Romanian village, or, why not, of a paradise in the peasant vision.
(Note: the name was chosen by me)
Nou: am lansat o serie limitată de felicitări cu imagini din acest covor. Felicitările sunt realizate în condiții grafice foarte bune, pe hârtie de calitate, made în Elveția. Se pot achiziționa de aici.
DESCRIEREA COMPOZIȚIEI
In the middle of the central field we can see two peacocks, sitting on the same plan, with their heads turned. Their rich plumage is rendered by the specific technique of the Oltenia style carpet, a technique used, in fact, for the entire kilim. The peacock tails are lowered, which symbolise modesty in the Christian tradition. We can also see peacocks in similar positions on many Neo-Romanian style buildings in the south of the country, which confirms the important status of the peacock in our space, used also as a symbol of immortality.
Above the peacocks, on either side, we notice two silhouettes: on the left is a seated peasant woman, dressed in folk costume. The wool she spins is probably from the little flock of sheep herded by the shepherd, who may even be her husband. Like any kilim, it has two identical faces, except that on the other side, the position of the spinster and the shepherd will be reversed, the other elements remaining in place. Magic, right? ⁇
A beautiful girl was spinning wool by the porch. Mihai Eminescu, Prince charming of the Tear
While the peasant woman is sitting in front of her house, in the garden or at the gate (as we can still see in some villages), the shepherd has no permanent house, he is semi-nomad, about half of the year, from St. George to St. Demetrios is up in the mountains.
His house is his coat (made from sheep skin), along with the trees in the forest (next to him we have a group of three trees, the same number as the flock of sheep). It goes without saying that the forest, like the flock of sheep, had several trees, respectively sheep.
It is possible that the boulder that is easily believed to be just a sheep was used also to build a shelter onto it, as it still exists on the plains at the foot of the mountains, in Oltenia de sub Munte (Nothern Oltenia region), houses built near large boulders, which behave like a foundation or a wall of the house, giving it stability.
REVENIND LA CEI DOI PROTAGONIȘTI...
…putem observa la fiecare bogăția detaliilor: femeia este așezată, îmbrăcată în port popular complet: ii, marama de borangic (sau cârpă de gheață, pentru a folosi regionalismul oltenesc), oprege și bete. Are în mână un fus și toarce lână. Este așezată pe o laviță, pe care vom observa un simbol antic, pe care țesătoarele noastre l-au văzut prima dată pe un chilim din Anatolia. Simbolul respectiv este gura lupului (kurt agzi in Turkish), a symbol present in many Turkish kilims due to the fact that the members of the tribes of Anatolia, being nomadic shepherds, needed a form of symbolic protection against the most feared enemy of the flocks, the wolf.
The shepherd is also dressed in pants and a shirt, over which he has a sheepskin coat, and on his feet he is wearing peasant sandals (opinci). More than likely, the woollen socks (călțuni) he wears were sewn by his wife, the lady above. We also notice that he has a club and plays at ney (fluier). At a closer look, we can distinguish the technique in which the weaver decided to show her nose, the technique being called karamani and which is different from the Oltenian technique, which I said is present throughout the carpet, except the shepherd's nose and coat. In order to excel in both weaving techniques, you need a great deal of experience, so we can assume that this carpet was made by a master weaver or at least made under her strict supervision.
The placement of the two protagonists in the landscape, as well as their occupations, remind me of the origin of the word longing (dor). The two activities, the spinning and playing the ney, offer two opportunities rest active, we could say, in which you are physically present, but you let your mind fly to the one you love.
O adevarată Gradina a Raiului este plină de flori și copaci – lucru care este foarte clar și în această tapiserie. Un alt element definitoriu al unui Paradis – venit, la fel ca și cuvântul în sine, din spațiul persan – este râul care udă Grădina Raiului, râu care are un dublu rol: de protecție și de susținător al vieții. Câmpul central al tapiseriei este încadrat de trei chenare succesive, râul de care aminteam fiind pe chenarul exterior, sub forma unui zig-zag, motiv care în spațiul de limbă turcă se numește su yolu (flowing water) and which in our country has the symbolism of the road without return, which, like water, flows only in one direction. The motif on the edge of the tapestry, on a red background, also has a protective role and is called sawtooth or wolf fangs.
CUM A AJUNS ACEASTĂ TAPISERIE SĂ SE MATERIALIZEZE?
There are two possibilities here: either this kilim was made to order, and the drawing was made by the client or by the workshop designer, or by a master weaver. As I wrote above, the whole composition is elaborate, it does not seem to spring from the naive genius of a single person, although, of course, we can not rule out this possibility.
CINE L-A ȚESUT ȘI CÂND ANUME?
In Romania, for most tapestries, kilims and other textile art objects, the author and the date of creation are not known. Based on my experience as a collector, I will make a few assumptions.
For a kilim of this size, I estimate that at least two weavers worked for 5-6 months or more in a row. This does not include the time required to prepare the wool (washing, skimming, spinning, dyeing, etc.). Realistically speaking, for two weavers to be employed for 6 months, from morning to evening, every day, except public holidays and other religious holidays when spinning and weaving were forbidden, would mean that these weavers could not participate in the other household duties, which in reality it is almost impossible. So, they were either nuns or employees of a monastery workshop, or they worked for a weaving workshop, such as those of the Women's League from Oltenia, founded by Arethia Tătărescu. After the Second World War, craft cooperatives, called Arta Casnica, were established in many cities and towns across the country.
Starea covorului: starea este bună, dată fiind vârsta lui. Din păcate, proprietarul precedent a decis festonarea lui – probabil în ideea de a-i prelungi viața – și spălarea lui, covorul fiind probabil uscat în pozitie verticală, nu orizontală, așa cum este recomandat de specialiști, astfel încât anumite culori – roșu și albastru, s-au scurs pe alocuri.
Cu toate acestea, covorul își păstrează valoarea de operă de artă și de martor al unei epoci despre care nu putem spune că este apusă, dar ne pare mai depărtată în timp decât este în realitate.
