Cover, pale blue silk satin with dense silk-embroidered design of s-shaped flower stems running parallel, Ottoman Turkey, 1600-1700

Cover of silk satin embroidered with silk in atma with couched single threads (outlines).
As the ground fabric is very worn it is not possible to determine the number of widths but they were joined together before being embroidered.
The deep border has a blue ground and is decorated with a series of inward-facing crescents each enclosing a composite blossom with a central cloud band. Banded tulips on stems curl around the crescents.
The blue field is covered with fine, undulating parallel stems which run through banded tulips and carnations. the stems are coloured in sections: thin red and then thicker green. There is a secondary system of stem underlying the parallel ones: this also changes colour in sections and is red, black, green and white. It moves horizontally and forms circles around the large carnations and tulips.

Purchased. Registered File number 21207/1902, 89497/1902 and 89301/1902.

A similar cover is in the Textile Museum, Washington DC (Inv. No 1.22) but is worked in double running stitch. The design was drawn in ink on to the back of the fabric.

Attribution note: As the ground fabric is very worn it is not possible to determine the number of widths but they were joined together before being embroidered; this implies a professional workshop with large embroidery frames.

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. In the 17th century the main designs were based on wavy parallel stems which run along the length of the fabric. In this example, the lattice has been overwhelmed by the sheer abundance of flowers.

830-1902