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Lot Essay
The principal design of this carpet consists of a red field with delicate floral tracery and a large indigo primary medallion flanked by lobed medallions all filled with split-leaf rumi and angular floral vinery. The origin of this elaborately complex pattern has been the subject of great debate, 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), (Jon Thompson, Milestones in the History of Carpets, Milan, 2006, pp.90-101).
The earliest medallion Ushak carpets can be dated comfortably back into the fifteenth century, particularly on the basis of comparisons with other media from the Ottoman empire of that period (Carlo Maria Suriano, "Oak leaves and Arabesques", Hali, Issue 116, May-June 2001, pp.106-115). In that article, Suriano pulls together the most magnificent early examples of the group, many of which share border features with each other, and also an elegance of drawing of the main field, which make it clear why the design was so popular. Woven for the wealthy Ottoman home market they were also used as diplomatic gifts and appeared in European paintings during the 16th century by artists such as Velasquez, Zurbaran and Vermeer (Donald King and David Sylvester, The Eastern Carpet in the Western World from the 15th to the 17th Century, London, 1983, p.73). By the 17th century there is evidence of a substantial export market in Europe where they continued to be popular throughout the 18th century, although there was a visible degeneration of the quality of the weaving colour..
The drawing of the present rug is particularly fine and concise and the range of colours excellent. Alongside the usual two contrasting blue tones a third, and most unusual, aqua-blue is employed to outline the quartered medallions and the drop pendants above and below the main rhomboid medallion, all of which would more commonly be outlined in yellow. An additional pale pink colour is used to outline the trefoil tracery on the central medallion which is found in a small number of the better Ushak carpets of the sixteenth century. The combination of these colours and design elements link this carpet to others made in the second half of the sixteenth century, most notably one formerly in the Aita collection, (Christie's, London, 18 October 2001, lot 210). While it features a very rare border design and a slightly varied colour palette to our carpet, the drawing is very close. A further comparable example, which was un-illustrated at the time, sold at Sotheby's, London, 9 October 1991, lot 170, but was reproduced in Hali, Issue 60, December 1991, p.155. Neither of those two examples however employ the same level of sophisticated treatment of the central medallion as in our carpet, which sees a playful balance of diagonally opposing colours within each of the trefoil palmettes creating a two dimensional chiaroscuro. This same elaborate play of colour can be found on some of the truly great 16th century large medallion Ushak carpets, such as the Chevalier carpet in the Musée du Louvre, Paris; the Castellani-Stroganoff Ushak in the Bruschettini collection, Genoa; and the Czartoryski-Altunian Ushak carpet, formerly in the Wher collection, Switzerland, (Suriano, op.cit. fig.3, 4 & 8).
The earliest medallion Ushak carpets can be dated comfortably back into the fifteenth century, particularly on the basis of comparisons with other media from the Ottoman empire of that period (Carlo Maria Suriano, "Oak leaves and Arabesques", Hali, Issue 116, May-June 2001, pp.106-115). In that article, Suriano pulls together the most magnificent early examples of the group, many of which share border features with each other, and also an elegance of drawing of the main field, which make it clear why the design was so popular. Woven for the wealthy Ottoman home market they were also used as diplomatic gifts and appeared in European paintings during the 16th century by artists such as Velasquez, Zurbaran and Vermeer (Donald King and David Sylvester, The Eastern Carpet in the Western World from the 15th to the 17th Century, London, 1983, p.73). By the 17th century there is evidence of a substantial export market in Europe where they continued to be popular throughout the 18th century, although there was a visible degeneration of the quality of the weaving colour..
The drawing of the present rug is particularly fine and concise and the range of colours excellent. Alongside the usual two contrasting blue tones a third, and most unusual, aqua-blue is employed to outline the quartered medallions and the drop pendants above and below the main rhomboid medallion, all of which would more commonly be outlined in yellow. An additional pale pink colour is used to outline the trefoil tracery on the central medallion which is found in a small number of the better Ushak carpets of the sixteenth century. The combination of these colours and design elements link this carpet to others made in the second half of the sixteenth century, most notably one formerly in the Aita collection, (Christie's, London, 18 October 2001, lot 210). While it features a very rare border design and a slightly varied colour palette to our carpet, the drawing is very close. A further comparable example, which was un-illustrated at the time, sold at Sotheby's, London, 9 October 1991, lot 170, but was reproduced in Hali, Issue 60, December 1991, p.155. Neither of those two examples however employ the same level of sophisticated treatment of the central medallion as in our carpet, which sees a playful balance of diagonally opposing colours within each of the trefoil palmettes creating a two dimensional chiaroscuro. This same elaborate play of colour can be found on some of the truly great 16th century large medallion Ushak carpets, such as the Chevalier carpet in the Musée du Louvre, Paris; the Castellani-Stroganoff Ushak in the Bruschettini collection, Genoa; and the Czartoryski-Altunian Ushak carpet, formerly in the Wher collection, Switzerland, (Suriano, op.cit. fig.3, 4 & 8).