Collections Lessing and Schmalzriedt

The Schmalzriedt Collection includes 95 Turkmen rugs from the nineteenth and early twentieth century. They come from the Turkmen tribes of the Yomud and Tekke. In addition to rugs, the collection includes bags, horse blankets, tent entrances, and long tent borders. The woven fabrics are of particular interest because of their ornamentation, which helps to locate the individual pieces very precisely, both regionally and historically. The private collection of Professor Egidius Schmalzriedt (1935–2003) was donated to the university in 2010 from his estate.

A second private collection was donated to the university in 2018 by the couple Gotthold Ephraim and Johanna Lessing. It contains about 40 Turkmen carpets, the majority of which were acquired in the 1970s and 1980s. The textiles were probably produced in the nineteenth century.