Ottoman Palace Carpet

Two complete medallions and two half-medallions with pendants run down the centre of this carpet, seeming to divide the dark red field in two. The lobed medallions are outlined in yellow and filled with green, blue and red leaves and buds, with a cross-like star formed by lobed rumi motifs outlined in yellow at the centre. On a level with these medallions and lying against the long edges of the central field are four half-medallions and four quarter medallions forming cornerpieces, all filled with similar motifs. Between these medallions are six medallions with pointed lobes, symmetrically arranged on either side of the central axis of the carpet and filled with yellow, red and lime-green rumi motifs that form a star pattern on a blue ground.

Between the complete and half-medallions in the centre are peonies, lanceolate leaves, buds, and rumi motifs arranged in groups of four small bunches. The rest of the field is filled with groups of batayi flowers surrounded by large red, yellow, blue and dark blue palmettes, the remaining spaces in this elaborate field decoration being filled with branches of prunus blossom.

Two narrow borders containing rosettes, flowers and leaves on a yellow ground surround the broad main border, which has a red ground. The main border is decorated with garlands resembling Chinese cloud bands consisting of blue, red and beige flowers between scrolling branches, peonies and pomegranate flowers.

The Ottoman conquest of Tabriz in 1514 and Cairo in 1517 by Sultam Selim I (r. 1512–20) made a significant impact on Ottoman art. The deep-rooted artistic traditions of both cities influenced Ottoman carpet design, leading to the emergence of the type known as court carpets. With the naturalistic flower motifs and infinitely repeating patterns of Ottoman carpets were combined the Persian asymmetrical knot, which permitted very fine weaving, Safavid designs of medallions and curving lanceolate leaves, and the pastel colors and fine silky wool of Egyptian Mamluk carpets.

Artists from Tabriz, including the celebrated artist Shah Kulu (active 1520–56), who is credited with developing a new idiom at the Ottoman court studios—the saz style—played a part in developing carpets with medallion compositions deriving from the Iranian art of bookbinding. Medallion carpets first emerged in the late fifteenth century, and in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries these carpet designs rapidly replaced the traditional geometric compositions of Ottoman carpets.

Art historiand disagree as to whether Ottoman court carpets were produced in Cairo, Istanbul, or Bursa (north-western Turkey). Sultan Murad III (r. 1574–95) is known to have brought eleven weavers and supplies of wool from Cairo in 1585. Some scholars have posited that these weavers went on to produce court carpets in Cairo or Istanbul. Mamluk-type carpets woven in Cairo began to adopt Ottoman designs, lending validity to this supposition. However, variations in materials and standards of workmanship among court carpets weakens the theory that they were all woven in the same place. Meanwhile there is no concrete evidence that carpets were ever woven in Bursa, although that city was a traditonal centre for silk production and weaving.

It seems fair to conclude that the Cairo carpet-weaving shops continued to produce carpets—now with designs deriving from the repertoire of the Ottoman palace workshop—since this region, with its existing supply of both materials and manpower, possessed the necessary infrastructure for production of large court carpets in particular. However, the small court carpets of high quality were without doubt woven by craftsmen at the Topkapi Saray, as shown by the number of carpet weavers known to have been employed there.

Nazan Ölcer in [Roxburgh 2005]

George and Florence Blumenthal, Paris and New York (by 1935–41; bequeathed to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Oriental Rugs and Textiles," May 13–September 14, 1935, no. 13.

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Turks: A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600–1600," January 22, 2005–April 15, 2005, no. 308.

Dimand, Maurice S. A Guide to an Exhibition of Oriental Rugs and Textiles. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1935. p. 24, ill. fig. 13 (b/w).

Dimand, Maurice S., and Jean Mailey. Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1973. no. 103, pp. 156–57, 232, ill. fig. 184, (b/w, color).

Atil, Esin, ed. Turkish Art. Washington, D.C and New York: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1980. pp. 318–19, ill. fig. 184 (b/w).

Roxburgh, David J., ed. Turks . A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600–1600. London, New York: Royal Academy of Arts, 2005. no. 308, pp. 331–33, 454–55, ill. (color).

Denny, Walter B. How to Read Islamic Carpets. New Haven and London: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014. pp. 78–79, ill. figs. 63–64.