WEST ANATOLIA, LATE 17TH CENTURY

By the second half of the seventeenth century a large proportion of the output of Ushak was being made for export to Europe. The present carpet is typical with its classic design, relatively coarse weave, and very large size. Most carpets of this type which have survived are completely worn out, having spent the last 200 years on the floors of large houses. The present carpet is remarkable in the way the pile has been preserved; it can ahrdly have been used at all. It shows why this group, although derivative from the sixteenth century carpets, were so popular as decoration in seventeenth century European houses. This was particularly so in Southern Europe from where there was less access to the newer Persian imports than in the naval powers in the north.