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拍品专文
Woven from the mid-fifteenth century, the bold design and grand scale of Medallion Ushak carpets earnt them popularity both in the Ottoman Empire and overseas. Early examples were often woven on a very large scale, with repeated motifs neatly cut off at the borders, giving the illusion of an infinite design. The present carpet belongs to a slightly later stage in the development of the design, where the central medallion, which touches either side border, has lost its pure ogival form and where the eight-lobed 'star' medallions are quartered to form corner spandrels. Like the best examples, the finely drawn tracery vine and variety of colours on this carpet preserves much of the spirit of earlier examples.
Medallion Ushak carpets were particularly prized by Tudor royalty in England, as captured by Lucas de Heere in a 1572 painting, An Allegory of the Tudor Succession. The painting depicts Henry VIII seated on a throne on a carpet of this type, handing a sword to his daughter, Elizabeth I. A Medallion Ushak carpet with a very similar cartoon was sold in these Rooms, 18 October 2016, while a border fragment in the Castellini-Stroganoff collection almost exactly matches the borders of the present lot (Alberto Boralevi, L'Ushak: Castellani-Stroganoff ed altri Tappeti Ottomani dal XVI al XVIII secolo, Florence, 1987, p.17, fig.a). The quartered 'star'-medallions on the present carpet, which would most commonly be woven in indigo to match the central ogival medallion, are unusually executed in a golden yellow. An Ushak carpet with khaki-green 'star'-medallions sold in these Rooms as part of The Bernheimer Family Collection of Carpets, 14 February 1996, lot 127.
Medallion Ushak carpets were particularly prized by Tudor royalty in England, as captured by Lucas de Heere in a 1572 painting, An Allegory of the Tudor Succession. The painting depicts Henry VIII seated on a throne on a carpet of this type, handing a sword to his daughter, Elizabeth I. A Medallion Ushak carpet with a very similar cartoon was sold in these Rooms, 18 October 2016, while a border fragment in the Castellini-Stroganoff collection almost exactly matches the borders of the present lot (Alberto Boralevi, L'Ushak: Castellani-Stroganoff ed altri Tappeti Ottomani dal XVI al XVIII secolo, Florence, 1987, p.17, fig.a). The quartered 'star'-medallions on the present carpet, which would most commonly be woven in indigo to match the central ogival medallion, are unusually executed in a golden yellow. An Ushak carpet with khaki-green 'star'-medallions sold in these Rooms as part of The Bernheimer Family Collection of Carpets, 14 February 1996, lot 127.