PROBABLY USHAK, WEST ANATOLIA, EARLY 18TH CENTURY

The cartouche border on this rug is one of the more frequently encountered of the 'Lotto' group but the walnut-brown ground makes this more unusual than most. Comparable examples can be found in the Philadelphia Museum of Art from the John G. Johnson Collection (see Charles Grant Ellis, Oriental Carpets in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 1988, no.12), a rug formerly in the collection of Joseph McMullen, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Joseph McMullen, Islamic Carpets, New York, 1965, no.73). A third example was offered for sale in these Rooms, The Bernheimer Family Collection, 14 February 1996, lot 87. All three examples including the present lot have a design that is lacking an inner guard stripe between the field and the border. Ellis suggests that the similarities between these four pieces indicate that they were woven in the same workshop.