OTTOMAN CRETE, GREECE, 18TH CENTURY

Embroidered panels of this type were used most frequently to decorate the hems of garments. After the Fourth Crusade the island of Crete was ceded to Venice, remaining under Venetian rule until its fall to the Ottomans in 1669. The embroideries produced in Crete during the eighteenth century owe an evident debt to Italian influence, seen here in the stylised use of heraldic bird and Baroque vase motifs. The delicate carnation flower used throughout the overall design is of Ottoman inspiration, deftly adapted by the Cretan weaver. An embroidered dress hem in the collection of the Benaki Museum, Athens, employs a very similar arrangement of vase, carnation and bird motifs. It is attributed to the 17th or 18th century (EE1562).