PROBABLY USHAK, WEST ANATOLIA, LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY

It is extremely rare to find the ragged palmette and vine border design set upon an indigo ground within the known group of 'Lotto' rugs. Perhaps the closest comparable is a late 16th century 'Lotto' rug found in the Black Church in Brasov which has a similar blue border but with a more symmetrical arrangement of palmettes that are not dissimilar to a fleur-de-lis, Stefano Ionescu, Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania, Naples, 2005, CAT. 16, p.90. Both Ionescu and Herrmann, suggest that this border design and its unsual colouring is an indication that the carpet was woven earlier than most. A closely related border, both in the execution of the drawing and palette, appears on a Star Ushak carpet gifted to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York from the collection of James F. Ballard (acc.no.22.100.110). A stylised version of one executed on a fragmentary Ushak carpet sold in these Rooms in Rugs and Carpets: Battilossi Tappeti d'Antiquariato, 11 February 1998, lot 90, and two further border fragments appear in the present sale as part of the Deeg Collection, lots 125 and 127. For a fuller discussion on the 'Lotto' group please see lot 189 in the present sale.