WEST ANATOLIA, EARLY 17TH CENTURY

Though much of this carpet has been recreated, from the original parts it is evident from the fine quality of the drawing, in which the weavers seem to have had little difficulty realising the curved central medallion and the intricate strapwork over the field, that this is one of the earlier products of the Ushak workshop. Carpets of this age rarely survive entirely intact: a fragmentary example which was with Moshe Tabibnia only has the central medallion (published Jon Thompson, Milestones in the History of Carpets, Milan, 2006, p.88, plate 7) while another, lacking most of its outer border, is on display in the Türk ve İslam Eserleri Müzesi, Istanbul (TIEM inv.no.77, published Hulya Tezcan and Sumiyo Okumura, Weaving Heritage of Anatolia, Volume 2, Istanbul 2007, p.51, no.29).