PROBABLY ISTANBUL, CIRCA 1910

The design is a direct copy of Safavid velvets. The two-level pattern is created by a delicately drawn lattice of scrolling vine and an ogival lattice formed by arabesques and was usually - as is in the present lot - enriched with silver and gilt foil strips which filled the voided sections. For a very similar original Safavid velvet please see Carol Bier (ed.), Woven from the Soul, Spun from the Heart. Textile Arts of Safavid and Qajar Iran 16th - 19th Centuries, Exhibition Catalogue, The Textile Museum Washington, D.C., 1987, p. 70, fig. 9a and pp. 152-53, pl. 9.