OTTOMAN TURKEY, 16TH OR 17TH CENTURY

An embroidered satin kerchief with similar design is published in Yanni Petsopoulos (ed.), Tulips, Arabesques & Turbans: Decorative Arts from the Ottoman Empire, 1982, no.150. Very slightly smaller than ours, that is described as an embroidered satin kerchief and is attributed to the 16th century. A prayer mat of similar technique is in the Museum für Kunsthandwerk in Frankfurt (Inv.Nr.H.St.21; published Türkische Kunst und Kultur aus osmanischer Zeit, 1985, p.269, no5/22). That is attributed to the later 17th century but has embroidery that looks slightly less refined to that which decorates our example. When our textile was exhibited in The Unity of Islam in Riyadh, it was described as a saddle cloth, or caparison. Many of the ambassadorial and trade gifts from Turkey and Iran in the 17th century included ceremonial horse trappings, and in particular parade caparisons of this nature. A Safavid version, woven with silk threads was exhibited in the exhibition The Tsars and the East: Gifts from Turkey and Iran in the Moscow Kremlin (Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington DC, 2009, pp.38-39, no.11).