Sotheby's Arts of the Islamic World, including Fine Carpets and Textiles
London|24 Oct 2007| L07222
LOT 375 An Oushak 'Lotto' Carpet, West
Anatolia, (together with Sarre, Friedrich and Trenkwald, Herrmann,
Altorientalische Teppiche, Erster Band, Wien/Leipzig, 1926, 1 vol., and
Zweiter Band, Wien/Leipzig, 1928, 1 vol., lithograph illustrations, both
volumes bound in dark blue cloth, gold foiled titles) very minor rubbing
to corners of bindings, overall in very good condition)
approximately 300 by 219cm., 9ft. 10in. by 7ft. 2in. (3) ESTIMATE
60,000-80,000 GBP Lot Sold: 240,500 GBP ($492 785)
CATALOGUE NOTE The overall arabesque lattice design found here was
named for the Venetian artist Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556) who was one of
numerous European artists throughout the16th and 17th centuries to
include carpets with this pattern in their works, see Mills, John, "
'Lotto' Carpets in Western Paintings," Hali, vol 3. no. 4, 1980, pp.
278-289. Prior to this study, the arabesque lattice of these carpets
had been examined and further categorized into three groups by Charles
Grant Ellis: the 'Anatolian,' 'Kilim' and 'Ornamented,' see Ellis,
C.G., "The 'Lotto' pattern as a fashion in carpets," Festchrift fur
Peter Wilhelm Meister, 1975, pp. 19-31. The prestige and enduring appeal
of 'Lotto' carpets in the west is demonstrated by their appearance in
so many paintings as well as by the numbers of rugs and fragments that
have survived and that have been the subject of scholarly research.
The present carpet displays the 'kilim' pattern, characterized by the
serrated edges to the motifs. Here, the field design is complemented by
a cloudband-filled border. In the paintings Mills examined, this kilim
field and cloudband border combination first appears in a rug depicted in
a 1611 portrait of Frances Howard, Duchess of Richmond, by Marcus
Gheeraedts (attrib.), see Mills, John, op.cit., fig.34. He shows six
other paintings with rugs having this configuration dating between 1613
and 1667, see Mills, ibid, figs, 36, 37, 64, 68, 71, 72. In the carpet
offered here, it is the guard borders that appear to be unusual, with a
narrow zigzag-vine inner guard and wider meander vine outer guard. Of
the known and published kilim and cloudband examples, there appears to
be only one other carpet with similar guards and this is in the Museum of
Turkish and Islamic Arts in Istanbul, see Yetkin, S., Historical
Turkish Carpets, Istanbul, 1981, pl. 31. Yetkin dates the Istanbul
carpet to the 16th century, while most examples of carpets with the
'kilim' arabesque and cloudband border are ascribed to the 17th
century, for examples see Erdmann, Kurt, Seven Hundred Years of
Oriental Carpets, Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1970, pp. 58-59; and
Gilles, R., et al, Tapis: Present de l'Orient a l'Occident, Paris 1989, p.
76. Since most depictions of cloudband bordered kilim-design rugs are
in the 17th century, this would suggest that these carpets were woven
from the late 16th century and well into the 17th century. The present and
Istanbul carpets may therefore fall near the beginning of this tradition,
dating to circa 1600 or the early 17th century.
Many of the surviving rugs having a kilim pattern and cloudband border
are of a smaller format than the present carpet, for examples see
Erdmann, op.cit., fig. 57; Batari, Ferenc, Ottoman Turkish Carpets,
Budapest, 1994, figs. 13 and 14; The Aita Collection: Exceptional
Carpets, Christie's London, 18 October 2001, lot 228; and Ionescu,
Stefano, Antique Ottoman Rugs in Transylvania, Rome 2005, cat. nos. 29,
30, 32, 33, 35 and 37. The present carpet shares its larger size with
the carpet holding the record price for a 'Lotto' rug, Christie's London,
29 April 2004, lot 100.
That a number of rugs having the 'Lotto' design were found in
Roumania, see Ionescu, op.cit., lead Charles Ellis to suggest that
these rugs may have been woven in Eastern Europe rather than in the
generally accepted Western Anatolia. Structurally, the 'Lotto' carpets are
most similar to 'Holbein' and other weavings attributed to the Oushak
area and thus, to date there is no reason to suggest that they were
woven elsewhere than Turkey.
The carpet offered here is in unusually good condition, retaining its
vibrant color and showing its balanced design much as it was originally
intended some 400 years ago.
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