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Lot Essay
Another fragment from the same fine panel is in a private collection in Munich and was exhibited at the L. A Mayer Museum of Islamic Art, Jerusalem in their exhibition Splendour of Colour, Shimmer of Silk: Embroidery of the Ottoman Empire (published Hali Magazine, 2011, p.131, no.3). It was there catalogued as a quilt fragment, and was attributed to 16th century Ottoman Turkey.
The organisation of our panel find a direct parallel in a later 16th century crimson silk binding made for a copy of the Nusret name copied in AH 992/1584-5 to be presented to Sultan Murad III (r. 1574-1595) (Rogers, 1986, pp. 164-5, pl. 95). The silk is worked with gold thread and gold leaf. The lobed centre piece is laid out amidst an intricat6e scrolling floral ground with a stylised pendant worked as a blossom topped by a swirling cloud band. Both frames consist of a scrolling floral garland although ours panel’s also incorporate an iteration of the cloud band motif.
A blue velvet published in Errera, 1927 (p. 227) cat. 194A, although only described as ‘Travail Oriental’ but dated 16th century clearly shows a cloud band pattern similarly articulated around a a central lobed medallion.
The ogival pattern of our panel is one of the oldest and most widespread designs and allows for infinite variations from floating medallions to intricate and dense intertwined lattices. The ogival pattern and examples of Ottoman textiles that use it are discussed and illustrated in Atasoy, 2001, pp.272-281. Sometimes, the cloud band can also be highly stylised and form part of the central medallion as can be seen on a panel in the Textile Museum in Washington (Atil, 1987, no. 143, p. 209).
The organisation of our panel find a direct parallel in a later 16th century crimson silk binding made for a copy of the Nusret name copied in AH 992/1584-5 to be presented to Sultan Murad III (r. 1574-1595) (Rogers, 1986, pp. 164-5, pl. 95). The silk is worked with gold thread and gold leaf. The lobed centre piece is laid out amidst an intricat6e scrolling floral ground with a stylised pendant worked as a blossom topped by a swirling cloud band. Both frames consist of a scrolling floral garland although ours panel’s also incorporate an iteration of the cloud band motif.
A blue velvet published in Errera, 1927 (p. 227) cat. 194A, although only described as ‘Travail Oriental’ but dated 16th century clearly shows a cloud band pattern similarly articulated around a a central lobed medallion.
The ogival pattern of our panel is one of the oldest and most widespread designs and allows for infinite variations from floating medallions to intricate and dense intertwined lattices. The ogival pattern and examples of Ottoman textiles that use it are discussed and illustrated in Atasoy, 2001, pp.272-281. Sometimes, the cloud band can also be highly stylised and form part of the central medallion as can be seen on a panel in the Textile Museum in Washington (Atil, 1987, no. 143, p. 209).