WEST ANATOLIA, 18TH CENTURY

Whilst not the earliest of this design, the present rug is an example of the classic Medallion Ushak type. The basic design principal has a red field with delicate floral tracery and a large indigo primary medallion flanked by lobed medallions all filled with split-leaf rumi and angular floral vinery. The earliest and best examples of these carpets were woven for the wealthy Ottoman home market. Medallion Ushak carpets however already appeared in European paintings during the sixteenth century with examples being depicted by artists such as Velasquez, Zurbaran and Vermeer (Donald King and David Sylvester, The Eastern Carpet in the Western World from the 15th to the 17th Century, London, 1983, p.73). By the 17th century there is evidence of a substantial export market in Europe, both from textual sources and from the number which have survived in large European country houses.