OTTOMAN TURKEY, LATE 17TH OR EARLY 18TH CENTURY

Very few Ottoman saddle cloths have survived intact. A luxurious example of red silk velvet embroidered with rubies is in the Kremlin Museum, Moscow (2620). It shares with the present saddle cloth its use of stylised floral motifs embroidered with silk metal-thread against the red ground. Another saddle cloth of similar design was long held to have belonged to Kara Mustafa, the Ottoman general who besieged Vienna in 1683, but has since been identified as having been made during the reign of Sultan Mustafa II (r.1695-1703). A later Ottoman saddle cloth was sold at Christie’s London, 27 April 2023, lot 148. The continued use of embroidered silk metal-thread against a red velvet ground is a testament to the timelessness of these classic Ottoman designs.