WEST ANATOLIA, LATE 16TH CENTURY

This highly unusual fragment is evocative of what would once have been an extraordinary carpet. This section has part of a sky-blue outer guard stripe with cloudband motifs, and next to it a red-ground main border with finely executed yellow tracery, as well as a golden-yellow floral meander minor stripe and the edge of the indigo inner guard stripe. An Ushak carpet in the L A Mayer Museum (Ca 64-86) has an identical succession of border patterns enclosing a blue-ground medallion design, and exceeds five metres in length.

This particular fragment was formerly part of the collection of Dr. Jon Thompson, who remarked in Milestones in the History of Carpets that ‘early blue-ground Ushak medallion carpets are much rarer than their frequent publication might suggest’ (Milan, 1996, pl.7, p.88). The fragment would have caught his eye thanks to the highly unusual combination of motifs legible on it. The arcaded border on the present carpet is also unusual, normally associated with small medallion Ushak rugs. Cloud bands are still more of a rarity, appearing also on small medallion rugs, like the example sold in these Rooms, 31 March 2022, lot 197, or on Selendi 'Bird' carpets. The combination of the two is a rarity indeed.