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Lot Essay
This fragment belongs to the second major group of carpets attributed to Cairo and represents the union of two distinct cultures, namely the Mamluks and the Ottoman Turks, after the 1517 Ottoman conquest of the Mamluk Sultanate. While the 'S' (clockwise)-spun/'Z' (anti-clockwise)-plied wool and the limited palette of this rug link it to the earlier tradition of Mamluk carpets, its elaborate design is purely Ottoman Turkish.
Each of the delicately drawn design elements of the spandrel, field and guard stripe seen here, are quite typical of the Ottoman Cairene repertoire and can be seen in different manifestations in several other examples, such as on another rug formerly in the collection of Otto Bernheimer possession (Kurt Erdmann, Der Orientalische Knüpfteppich, Tübingen, 1955, no.131), a rug in the collection of Prince Paar, Vienna (Serare Yetkin, Historical Turkish Carpets, Istanbul, 1981, p.121, illus. 74) and a rug formerly in the collection of Susan and Lewis Manilow, sold Sotheby's New York, 7 April 1992, lot 86.
Each of the delicately drawn design elements of the spandrel, field and guard stripe seen here, are quite typical of the Ottoman Cairene repertoire and can be seen in different manifestations in several other examples, such as on another rug formerly in the collection of Otto Bernheimer possession (Kurt Erdmann, Der Orientalische Knüpfteppich, Tübingen, 1955, no.131), a rug in the collection of Prince Paar, Vienna (Serare Yetkin, Historical Turkish Carpets, Istanbul, 1981, p.121, illus. 74) and a rug formerly in the collection of Susan and Lewis Manilow, sold Sotheby's New York, 7 April 1992, lot 86.