4 Tuduk Transylvania Rug Copies

 I received a FaceBook Chat from  Stefano Ionescu a knowledgeable person from  Rome Italy who has a interest in Transylvanian rugs.

Hi Barry, Every time i google 'Tra sylvanian' rugs I get your page But this is a Tuduk. Here are some other brothers, all copied after the wonderful Budapest rug. Is it possible for you:
a. to specify that this is a fake
b: to use another photo, possibly in the right way (palmette pointing up).

Stefano is well known and respected in the field of  Transylvanian rugs. He has two books that I know of"

The Lutheran Churches of Transylvania and their Rugs: Black Church and the Brasov area2005
by Stefano Ionescu 
Tappetti Anatolici Dalla Transilvania Sec. XVI-XVII [Anatolian Carpets from Transylvania 16th-17th Centuries]2005
by Stefano Ionescu and Alberto Boralevi.

15th century Persian Rug Shiraz?

This rug was from the Chihil Sutun kiosk in Isfahan. It was thought to be a Para-Mamluk rug from Damascus. Then Jon Thompson wrote "Late Mamluk Carpets: Some New Observations" in "The Arts of the Mamluks in Egypt and Syria: Evolution and Impact", edited by Doris Behrens-Abouseif.

15th century Persian Rug

I was fully prepared to disregard what Thompson had to say about these but he makes some very compelling points. I am not saying this particular rug but certainly this type is the precursor of the Damascus Compartment/Checkerboard/Chess Board Rug that the legendary Rug Expert Charles Grant Ellis termed Para-Mamluk,
But more than that I see this as a nice Persian Rug from the 15th century. where was this rug made. The easy answer is Tabriz but this rug is not woven with an Asymmetric knot. So if not Tabriz fo we then go to Isfahan province to Kashan or maybe some where in Arak? Why not Shiraz. We know there was court workshop production at that time. Some people might argue why not Kashan there were court workshops there. We would then have to remind them that yes but not until 200 years after this piece. So Shiraz where an Asymmetric open left rug would not be out of place is as lucky as any. Let me also remind you that Shiraz traded with the Levant both by the sea route and the caravan route across Iraq.