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Lot Essay
This carpet is in phenomenal condition for its age with almost full pile throughout. Dating to the 17th century, it belongs to the second generation of large medallion Ushak carpets but has retained the fine drawing and wonderfully rich colouring of the earlier production. The origin of the large medallion design has been greatly debated but one suggestion is that it originated as a response to stylistic developments in illuminated manuscripts during the rule of Mehmet II Fatih (1432-1481), for a full discussion of the design see Jon Thompson, Milestones in the History of Carpets, Milan, 2006, pp.90-101 .
The earliest and best examples were woven for the Ottoman market but we can see from paintings by artists such as Velasquez and Zurbaran, that large medallion Ushaks had begun to appear in Europe by the sixteenth century (Donald King and David Sylvester, The Eastern Carpet in the Western World from the 15th to the 17th Century, London, 1983, p.73). The popularity of the design is reflected in the longevity of the production and the substantial export market in Europe, evidenced both from textual sources and from the number which have survived in large European country houses. It is rare however to see this impressive a large medallion Ushak in such fabulous condition. For a closely related carpet please see Nazan Ölçer, Turkish Carpets from the 13th to the 18th Centuries, exhibition catalogue, Istanbul, 1996, pl.83, pp.114-115.
The earliest and best examples were woven for the Ottoman market but we can see from paintings by artists such as Velasquez and Zurbaran, that large medallion Ushaks had begun to appear in Europe by the sixteenth century (Donald King and David Sylvester, The Eastern Carpet in the Western World from the 15th to the 17th Century, London, 1983, p.73). The popularity of the design is reflected in the longevity of the production and the substantial export market in Europe, evidenced both from textual sources and from the number which have survived in large European country houses. It is rare however to see this impressive a large medallion Ushak in such fabulous condition. For a closely related carpet please see Nazan Ölçer, Turkish Carpets from the 13th to the 18th Centuries, exhibition catalogue, Istanbul, 1996, pl.83, pp.114-115.