WEST ANATOLIA, 17TH CENTURY

The group of 'Smyrna' rugs were named after the contemporary European name for Izmir, the port where they were loaded onto ships destined for the European market. Werner Grote-Halsenbalg notes that they were woven under the direct supervision of Dutch merchants (quoted by Alberto Boralevi, Geometrie d’Oriente: Stefano Bardini e il Tappeto Antico, Livorno, 1999, no.27, p.86). Despite this foreign influence, they still drew heavily on Ottoman court designs: the section of the border which survives here is typical of the border designs found on couple-columned ‘Transylvanian’ prayer rugs of the same period (Spuhler, König, and Volkmann, Alte Orientteppische, Munich, 1978, no.20, p.66).

This fragment is taken from the bottom-left hand corner of the original carpet. The original decoration would have consisted of two or possibly three ascending columns of alternate-facing large artichoke-shaped palmettes, without a central medallion. A very similar complete carpet, with a near-identical main border, was sold in these Rooms as part of The Davide Halevim collection, 14 February 2001, lot 52. The touches of green in this fragment though bear comparison with a slightly older – and also fragmentary - example collected by Stefano Bardini who, Boralevi suggests, seems to have ‘had a particular feeling for Smyrna carpets’ (Alberto Boralevi, op cit., no.28, p.88).