Lot Essay
This is an unusual variant on the well-known group of 'Selindi' or 'bird Ushak' rugs. The group is known to be disparate with the probability of more than one place of manufacture in the seventeenth century. This has, as with the 'Lotto' rugs, caused considerable discussion about how the design developed and when it ceased in production.
The unusual assymmetric field found here is similar to that seen in an example in the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest (Batari, F,: Ottoman Turkish Carpets, Budapest, 1994, no.24, p.51 and pl.p.119). And although most examples of the field design are enclosed within a frame of stylised leaves, a number of examples exist without this feature. The border does not appear on any other published rug with this field design. It is however a variant on the border which is used on the 'waterbug' or 'scorpion' white ground Ushak rug in the same collection (Batari, F.: op.cit., no.29, p.52 and pl.p.124).
It is unfortunate that the repiling of the brown outlines of the main 'bird' motifs with a medium-toned brown has lent the green-brown colour a hardness of tone. In the few places where this colour appears without its later brown framing it appears to be a different and less aggressive colour.
Other features of the carpet are entirely consistent with some of the group. The selvage is attached in an unusual way for Turkish rugs, but one which is typical of one group of rugs of this design. There are a number of lazy-lines within the structure. The inclusion of small cintamani groups of three roundels within the design, together with the unusual field and border features, all indicate that this is a rug made by a weaver with considerably more originality than the creators of most of the group.
The unusual assymmetric field found here is similar to that seen in an example in the Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest (Batari, F,: Ottoman Turkish Carpets, Budapest, 1994, no.24, p.51 and pl.p.119). And although most examples of the field design are enclosed within a frame of stylised leaves, a number of examples exist without this feature. The border does not appear on any other published rug with this field design. It is however a variant on the border which is used on the 'waterbug' or 'scorpion' white ground Ushak rug in the same collection (Batari, F.: op.cit., no.29, p.52 and pl.p.124).
It is unfortunate that the repiling of the brown outlines of the main 'bird' motifs with a medium-toned brown has lent the green-brown colour a hardness of tone. In the few places where this colour appears without its later brown framing it appears to be a different and less aggressive colour.
Other features of the carpet are entirely consistent with some of the group. The selvage is attached in an unusual way for Turkish rugs, but one which is typical of one group of rugs of this design. There are a number of lazy-lines within the structure. The inclusion of small cintamani groups of three roundels within the design, together with the unusual field and border features, all indicate that this is a rug made by a weaver with considerably more originality than the creators of most of the group.