Through the Renaissance Frame: Carpets and the Beginnings of “Islamic Art” in Nineteenth-Century Vienna and Berlin

A critical review of the historiographies of “Islamic art” history reveals that our understanding of each artistic medium—such as ceramics, painting, and textiles—has followed a distinct epistemological trajectory, determined to a great extent by the attitudes and interests of early scholars. This article examines one of these early histories, mapping specific aspects of the development of carpet studies in nineteenth-century Vienna and Berlin. There was a gradual transformation in the understanding of these works of art that occurred from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century. Through the examination of some early collections, publications, and installations, one can trace the origins and the development of these shifting attitudes and ideas—from early collectors, through the intermediaries of early scholars such as Julius Lessing and Wilhelm von Bode, to the innovative thinking of Alois Riegl and Friedrich Sarre. While the focus of this article is carpet studies, a review of this material simultaneously reveals some of the earliest publications and exhibitions devoted to the nineteenth-century European concept of “Islamic art.”