SELENDI OR WEST ANATOLIA, LATE 16TH CENTURY

This fragment preserves a particularly finely drawn section from a ‘Bird’ Ushak carpet. In addition to the palette of red, blue and cream, this fragment has an additional green within the border. Both the drawing and palette are closely comparable to a fragment in the Biertan Church Collction (inv.no.63) published in Stefano Ionescu, Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania, Rome, 2005, p.107, cat.55. Like that fragment, the substantial size of the present lot would suggest that it also comes from a larger format ‘Bird’ Ushak carpet. Its varied palette also incorporates a blue bird among the more commonly found peach pink birds and a similar play on colour is found on a large format Bird Ushak carpet in the Turk ve Islam Eserleri Muzesi, Istanbul (inv.no.676).