Three parts, textile, embroidered, 1600s, Turkish

Linen embroidered with silk in surface darning on the diagonal over three threads and running stitch (borders).
The field is decorated with undulating parallel stems along which a red blossom with a blue cebntre alternates with a serrated blue leaf; both curve in the same direction but the direction alternates in rows. The blue leaf contains a red stem and white and yellow flowers.
The border, which is along three sides, is a meander with an almost straight thick red stem decorated with a green line and white or yellow circles. The meander links red blossoms which have similar internal markings. From the meander springs a blue leaf, also with these internal markings, and usually one or two smaller sprigs with a white flower or with a yellow/blue flower. This patterning is not consistent.

The oldest Ottoman embroideries in the Museum date from the 16th and 17th centuries. They are whole or fragments of covers and wall hangings decorated with large-scale, bold designs in a limited palette of red, blue, green and yellow with white and black. The main design in the 17th century was based on wavy parallel stems which run along the length of the fabric.

61 to B-1891