Lot Essay
One other published piece relates to this carpet, a fragment which is a quarter of the original carpet and is now in the Orient Stars Collection (Kirchheim, H. et.al.: Orient Stars, Stuttgart and London, 1993, no.206, p.328). That fragment and the present carpet were, with the exception of the central design, woven from the same cartoon, down to the drawing of the small motifs in the spandrels. The colouring is also identical in both pieces. Technically the only difference between them is the inclusion in the Orient Stars example of a dusty pink colour.
The drawing in both clearly shows the influence of the sixteenth century Ushak carpets, most particularly in the details of the blue medallions in the field. Here can be seen the assymmetric quartering of the motifs which is so typical of the Ushak designs. But many other features of drawing show a different and probably older influence at work, such as the inclusion of animals and the bringing in of the spandrels from the corners.
The carpet is far stiffer in handle than the products of Western Anatolia, due principally to the partially depressed warps. The strength of colouring, with various motifs floating within large areas of colour is also unlike the workshop products of the period. It is in a remarkably good state of preservation with almost all the original selvage and with a considerable length of kilim at one end.
The drawing in both clearly shows the influence of the sixteenth century Ushak carpets, most particularly in the details of the blue medallions in the field. Here can be seen the assymmetric quartering of the motifs which is so typical of the Ushak designs. But many other features of drawing show a different and probably older influence at work, such as the inclusion of animals and the bringing in of the spandrels from the corners.
The carpet is far stiffer in handle than the products of Western Anatolia, due principally to the partially depressed warps. The strength of colouring, with various motifs floating within large areas of colour is also unlike the workshop products of the period. It is in a remarkably good state of preservation with almost all the original selvage and with a considerable length of kilim at one end.