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J.
P. TOURNEFORT
Volume VI Number 1
January 1988
Perhaps the
penultimate French travelogue is that of Tournefort, a recording
his of experiences, 1700--1702. (1) A visitor to Constantinople
mosques, he observed: "However handsome be the pavement of
a Church, it is always covered with a rug or a mat." (II, p.
351) As well as placing mats in mosques, he also noted their presence
in caravanserais and baths. (II, p. 352, p. 360) In addition, the
Mecca connection of textiles is neatly pointed up:
"The
niche....and the altar (dedicau) of the most famous Mosques
have attached there a piece of some fabric which has served as
a door curtain at the Mecca Mosque." (II, p. 350)
(concerning
the prophet's tomb at Medina) "...over which they spread
out each year a piled fabric (poile) very rich and very
magnificent which the Sultan sends out of devotion..." (II,
p. 358)
(also sent
by Sultan) "...several rich rugs, and many pieces of black
cloth for hangings in the Mosques of Mecca." (II, p. 359)
Tournefort undertook
some cross-country travel, which got him into Kurdish districts in
Erivan and produced a dwelling description:
"These
are big tents of a type of dark brown fabric, very thick and very
heavy which serves as covering for these types of portable house,
of which the enclosure, which forms the body of the dwelling, is
a rectangle fastened by a cane trellis the height of a man [and
is] carpeted inside with fine mats." (III, p. 123)
There is also
a portrayal of an Armenian church at Eichmazden:
"The pavement of the nave and that of the presbytere are covered
with handsome rugs. The presbytere, or the altar tower, is usually
carpeted with Damask, velvet or brocade." (III, p. 189) Tournefort
does not fail to devote a letter to the subject of Armenians, mentioning
their uprooting, Julfa location, and role as traders, including
the holding of the official monopoly of trade with the Moscovy Grand
Duke. (III, p. 252 - 257)
Finally, he characterized Smyrna as the commercial center for the
Levant, identified its principal exports (Persian silk, goat yarn
from Angora), and specified all trade items with France, among them
"Rugs large and ordinary."
Notes
- Tournefort,
J. P., Relation d'un Voyage du Levant, Lyons, first edition
revised and corrected, posthumously, 1727. Text references appear
by volume and page. Research Report translations.
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