General Classification: Ottomen Textiles

JBOC Comments:

Auction Description:

EXOTICA SALE
SALE L05223 LOT 226
SESSION 1 | 25 May 05 11:00 AM.
London, New Bond Street
AN OTTOMAN VOIDED SILK VELVET AND METAL THREAD (ÇATMA) PANEL, PROBABLY BURSA, WEST ANATOLIA, SECOND HALF 16TH CENTURY
8,000—12,000 GBP
Lot Sold. Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium: 7,200 GBP
MEASUREMENTS
approximately 152 by 49cm.
DESCRIPTION
second half 16th century
Condition Note: mounted and framed
CATALOGUE NOTE
This çatma with an ogival lattice linked by so-called ‘St. Stephen’ crowns alternating with large flattened flower heads perfectly exemplifies the exchange of ideas and decorative motifs between East and West and the resulting creation of fabrics by Ottoman weavers for export, designed to appeal to the fashionable cogniscenti of Europe. Here, we see an amalgam of Italianate motifs such as the crown and elaborate palmette with very typical Turkish motifs such as the small stencil-like tulips beneath the large palmettes and the curled saz leaves enclosing flowers (a decorative motif often seen in other branches of the Ottoman decorative arts, such as Iznik ceramics of the period) successfully synthesised to create a bold and dramatic design which continues to appeal today.

Related textiles are in the Kunstgewerbe Museum, Köln, see Markowsky, Barbara, Seiden Gewebe, Köln, 1976, no.721, p.385; in the collection of the State History Museum, Moscow; and the Benaki Museum, Athens, no.3812, illustrated in Gürsu, N., The Art of Turkish Weaving, Istanbul, 1988, fig.70, p.89. A related yastik is in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, see Atasoy, N. et al, Ipek: the Crescent and the Rose, London, 2001, no.87, p.135 & fig.299, p.302.

Seen on www.Sothebys.com