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Lot Essay
This textile is impressively large in its size and the sharpness of design and level of detail in the embroidery is very high. This is because it is embroidered in the dival technique which was devised in the late 18th century. For this technique the heavy metal threads are embroidered onto cardboard templates resulting in flat shapes with sharp and clearly defined outlines. The technique was favoured on more intricate items like clothing (see Metropolitan Museum of Art, obj.no. C.I.65.18.1) and bedspreads (Sadberk Hanim Museum, acc.no. 2000). But the technique naturally lent itself to larger textiles such as requiring sharp calligraphy and strong definition of design such as hangings for tombs and religious monuments.
The design on our textile includes a wreath motif of daisy-like florets on leafy stems as well as the more naturalistic wandering vines. Hülya Tezcan argues that the introduction of such devices occurs at a time of transition towards more western style decoration in the early 19th century. Comparable devices are seen on a group of curtains for the Rawdah al-Mutaharah dated between 1808-1812 in the Topkapi Seray Museum collection (Sacred Covers of Islam's Holy Shrines, Istanbul, 2017, no.79, pp.314-19; TMS 24⁄137, 167, 138).
Large metal-thread embroidered textiles were used by the Ottomans to decorate the interior of holy sites, most notably in Mecca and Medina, but also the interiors of tombs. These textiles were routinely replaced, sometimes annually, with the designs reflecting the changing aesthetics of the time. It is difficult to know exactly where this textile was intended for but it bears close similarity of design to the textiles which are laid over the tomb of Yildirim Bayezid in Bursa. A large 19th century calligraphic panel of the dival technique was sold in these Rooms, 27 October 2022, lot 163.
The design on our textile includes a wreath motif of daisy-like florets on leafy stems as well as the more naturalistic wandering vines. Hülya Tezcan argues that the introduction of such devices occurs at a time of transition towards more western style decoration in the early 19th century. Comparable devices are seen on a group of curtains for the Rawdah al-Mutaharah dated between 1808-1812 in the Topkapi Seray Museum collection (Sacred Covers of Islam's Holy Shrines, Istanbul, 2017, no.79, pp.314-19; TMS 24⁄137, 167, 138).
Large metal-thread embroidered textiles were used by the Ottomans to decorate the interior of holy sites, most notably in Mecca and Medina, but also the interiors of tombs. These textiles were routinely replaced, sometimes annually, with the designs reflecting the changing aesthetics of the time. It is difficult to know exactly where this textile was intended for but it bears close similarity of design to the textiles which are laid over the tomb of Yildirim Bayezid in Bursa. A large 19th century calligraphic panel of the dival technique was sold in these Rooms, 27 October 2022, lot 163.