Oushak Rugs: Star Ushak Carpet late 16th Century

Arts of the Islamic World

Sale: L08220 | Location: London, New Bond Street
Auction Dates: Session 2: Wed, 09 Apr 08 2:30 PM
LOT 375
PROPERTY OF A SWISS COLLECTOR
A 'STAR' OUSHAK CARPET, WEST ANATOLIA,
12,000—18,000 GBP
MEASUREMENTS
approximately 415 by 202cm., 13ft. 8in. by 6ft. 8in.
DESCRIPTION
late 16th century
end borders rewoven, outer edges of side borders rewoven, scattered reweaves
CATALOGUE NOTE
Written records indicate that carpets and rugs were woven in the city of Oushak in Western Anatolia as early as the late fifteenth century. Weavers in Oushak were the first in the Ottoman Empire to produce carpets for the European market where, during the Renaissance and the Baroque periods, carpets were held in especially high regard. Rugs and carpets from Oushak were imported to adorn the residences of the political and financial elite and to serve as a veritable symbol of wealth and status. These weavings also appeared in the works of the most distinguished artists of the time, such as Jan Vermeer or Paris Bordone, for example in the latter's 'The Delivery of the Ring to the Doge' of circa 1535, now in the Gellerie dell'Accademia, Venice, inv.no.318. Carpets and rugs from Oushak were produced with many different patterns arranged in accordance with the principle of the endless repeat, but few were as complex in their arrangement of motifs as Medallion and Star Oushak carpets. The lot offered here, with its large quatrefoil lobed stars, is an outstanding example of a Star Oushak carpet from the late sixteenth century. As surviving pieces and written accounts suggest, Star Oushak carpets were not produced after the seventeenth century and were perfected in a very short period of time. Interestingly, these carpets never showed any signs of demise before their sudden disappearance in the late 1600s. Star Oushak carpets can be embellished with different variants of the star motif and it has been suggested that pieces with four-lobed stars predate those with eight-lobed stars, see Donald King, "Turkish Carpets in the Victoria and Albert Museum," Hali, Vol.6 No.4, 1984, p.367. It has also been suggested that the designs of the tiles of the sixteenth-century Gök Mescid mosque in Tabriz could have been a source for the development of the Star Oushak pattern, see Oktay Aslanapa, One Thousand Years of Turkish Carpets, Istanbul, 1988, p.113. What makes the current lot particularly interesting and rare is the unusual combination of three different design elements that make this piece more complex than the majority of Star Oushak carpets and rugs. These elements are the quatrefoil star, the diamond-shaped medallion and the square medallion. Among the very few examples with a similarly intricate design is a quatrefoil Oushak rug in the Joseph Lees Williams Memorial Collection in the Philadelphia Museum of Art that has a virtually identical arrangement of motifs, see Charles Grant Ellis, Oriental Carpets in the Philadelphia Museum of Arts, Philadelphia, 1988, p.70. Another carpet with a comparable design can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, see Walter B. Denny, Anatolian Carpets, Washington, D.C., 2003, p.42. An unusual feature is the use of the palmette and leaf border design, on a dark brown ground, in combination with Star field design. The overall rarity of this piece, together with the unusual combination of design elements and its rich and vibrant colour, makes the current lot a rare opportunity for today's collectors.

Thanks and best wishes,

J. Barry O'Connell Jr.

Persian Rugs the O'Connell Guides