POSSIBLY USHAK, WEST ANATOLIA, LATE 17TH/EARLY 18TH CENTURY

It has been suggested that most if not all of the so-called Smyrna carpets, such as the present lot, were produced for the export market under the direct supervision of the Dutch (Werner Grote-Hasenbalg quoted in Boralevi, Alberto: Oriental Geometries, Livorno, 1999, p.86). Three well documented examples from the Stefano Bardini Collection in Florence, include a closely related carpet to ours bearing the same unusual square format consisting of two by two artichoke palmettes arranged in parallel rows in opposing directions, using the same alternating red and blue colouration (Alberto Boralevi, op.cit. pl.29, p.90). The cartouche and rosette border of the present lot is borrowed from seventeenth century 'Transylvanian' rugs of which an example can be found in the McMullan Collection (Joseph V. McMullan, Islamic Carpets, New York, 1965, no.95, p.291).