Pile carpets are one of many types of floor covering used in the Middle East. They are the most familiar to western Europeans as they have been imported from Turkey since at least the mid-15th century. Examples appear in Italian Renaissance paintings and are also depicted by north European artists such as Hans Holbein. Certain carpet designs became known in Europe by the names of the artists who painted them, including Holbein and Lorenzo Lotto.
A major centre of carpet production was the town of Usak in western Turkey. Weavers there began to use new designs based on medallions of different types during the reign of Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror (1451–81). Mehmet himself probably commissioned these designs. They were then used in commercial production for several centuries afterwards.
This fragment is made up of a number of pieces cut from the same carpet. The original design was one of the most accomplished variations of the so-called 'star Usak' pattern, and it may be one of the earliest examples.
Physical description
Carpet fragments, Variant Star Ushak pattern, hand knotted woollen pile on woollen warp and weft, Turkish, 16th century
WARP: white wool; Z2S; 16 threads per inch (64 per dm).
WEFT: red wool; Z spun, unplied; 2 shoots after every row of knots;10 knots per inch (40 per dm).
PILE: wool; 9 colours: red, yellow, dark green, light green, dark blue, blue, black, white; symmetrical knot tied around 2 threads; 80 knots per sq. inch (1280 per sq. dm).
SIDE FINISH: cut
END FINISH: cut
DESIGN: Field: Red ground; the elements preserved in these fragments include, towards the lower end, a red indented ocatgon within four, dark blue knot-linked, broad-leaf shapes; above is a dark blue indented diamond and, above the join, a second. At the edges, half of the diamond is at 90 degrees; these and the other figures ar filled with flowers that also grow on the light green stems that are traced across the field.
Inner border: yellow ground with a black meander with buds and leaves.
Catalogue Date: 15.07.98
Place of Origin
Usak, Turkey (probably, made)
Date
1450-1500 (made)
Artist/maker
Unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Hand knotted woollen pile on woollen warp and weft
Dimensions
Length: 232 cm maximum, Length: 228.5 cm minimum, Width: 170 cm maximum, Width: 168 cm minimum, Width: 180 cm maximum, board
Descriptive line
Carpet fragment, Turkey (probably Usak), 1450-1500.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Le ciel dans un tapis. Paris : Institut du Monde Arabe; Lisbon: Gulbenkian Foundation; Editions Snoeck, Gand, 2004. Page 142.
Franses, M. and Pinner, R. "The 'Classical' Carpets of the 15th to 17th Centuries" (part 1 of an article on "Turkish Carpets in the Victoria & Albert Museum"), Hali 6 (1984): 367 and colour plate II.
Exhibition History
Henry VIII Revealed: A Picture in Focus (Walker Art Gallery 21/01/2003-21/01/2003)
Le ciel dans un tapis (L'Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris 08/12/2004-08/12/2004)
Labels and date
Carpet Fragment
Turkey, probably Usak
1450-1500
This fragment is made up of a number of pieces cut from the same carpet. The original design was one of the most accomplished variations of the so-called 'star Usak' pattern, and it may be one of the earliest examples.
Wool warp (Z2S), weft and pile
Museum no. 278-1906 [Jameel Gallery]
Materials
Wool
Techniques
Weaving; Knotting
Categories
Textiles; Floor coverings
Collection code
MES
