OTTOMAN EPIRUS, NORTH WESTERN GREECE, 18TH CENTURY

Embroideries produced in Epirus were often intended for ceremonial use, woven by young women as part of their dowry. The elaborately-dressed female figure depicted in each of the six panels of this cushion cover is represented in bridal attire. Her costume reflects the proximity of Epirus to the Italian peninsula and European fashions; each figure wears the Venetian ‘mob-cap’ and a hooped skirt. The floral rosettes and boteh motifs are distinctively Ottoman in inspiration. For a parallel Epirote embroidery showing a bride amongst Turkish motifs, dated circa 1800, see Taylor, 1998, p. 144. The left panel of a cushion cover given by Hélène Stathatos to the Benaki Museum, Athens and dated to the 17th or 18th century bears close comparison to the present piece (Inv. 21172). For a note on Epirus as a centre of textile production in the 18th century see lot 189 in this sale.