part, embroidered, 1600s, Turkish

Part of a hanging, linen embroidered with silk in regular surface darning over five threads and chain stitch for the borders.
The orientation is not clear, but this is probably the right hand panel of a hanging. There is a border in which a three-leafed motif is worked in red, blue, white or green. The field is divided into bands by lines of blue leaves which are paired and join together at either their tip or their stem. Each leaf contains a sprig in reserve. The lines of leaves are offset so that form a lattice, the vertical lines of which are made by a red blossom with a white centre. The medallion formed by the lattice contains a red heart-shaped motif, outlined in green and encircled with white flowers, containing an arrangement of two pomegranates and a tulip in reserve.

The oldest Ottoman embroideries in the V&A date from the 16th and 17th centuries. They are either whole covers and wall hangings or fragments of them. They are decorated with large-scale, bold designs in red, blue, green and yellow, with some white and black. The oldest patterns, such as this one, are made from intersecting lines or lattice. They enclose spaces filled with flowers.

94-1897