Publication Date
2009
Categories
Related entries
Although Turkish carpets dominate sixteenth-century Portuguese painting (two-thirds of the representations recorded thus far), no contemporary carpets have survived and only two seventeenth-century 'Medallion Ushaks' and a few fragments of a 'Star Ushak' carpet exist in national collections today (Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon).
Developed initially as elite objects for the Ottoman court in the late fifteenth century, these carpets are associated with the town of Ushak, in west-central Anatolia, the most active carpet-producing centre in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Medallion carpets have centralized compositions with large ogival medallions with crenellated collars and pendants at each end, while the Star carpets have complex designs of octofoil medallions and diamond-shaped secondary motifs organized in a large lattice. Both types are rendered in the characteristic 'Ushak' colour palette, in which tomato red, dark blue, and golden yellow predominate, and are covered with floral arabesques and loosely sprinkled blossoms, originally inspired by Persian illumination, book binding and carpet design.
The first Italian depictions of these Turkish carpets appear on the steps in front of Doge Andrea Gritti in Paris Bordone's Return of the Doge's Ring, 1534 (Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice), and had probably only recently arrived in Venice as diplomatic gifts. In Portuguese paintings representations of them are rare; a simplified Medallion carpet with a cloud-band border appears in a painting of the Judgement of Saint Sebastian, from the last third of the sixteenth century (Palácio Nacional de Sintra). Quite precise copies of Star and Medallion carpets are found, however, among the repertoire of patterns in surviving Portuguese stitched carpets (or 'Arraiolos'), and they certainly did attract the attention of the Portuguese elite. At least two of these large 'Ushak' carpets with red medallions on a blue ground are documented in the inventory of the 5th Duke of Bragança, D. Teodósio I (d. 1563), and the high values attributed to them (28,000 reis and 20,000 reis) emphasize their high quality, novelty and large dimensions (c. 640 cm and 470 cm in length), which made them suitable for display in the most important rooms of the Ducal Palace at Vila Viçosa.
Bibliography:
HALLETT, Jessica and PEREIRA, Teresa Pacheco (eds.), The Oriental Carpet in Portugal, carpets and paintings, 15th to 18th centuries, Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga/ Instituto dos Museus e da Conservação, exhibition catalogue, 2007. PEREIRA, Teresa Pacheco, Tapetes de Arraiolos, Lisbon, SILVIP, no date. RABY, Julian, "Court and Export, Part I: Market Demands in Ottoman Carpets" and "Court and Export, Part II: The Usak Carpets", Oriental Carpet and Textile Studies, vol. 2, 1986, pp. 29-38 and pp. 177-187.
Author: Jessica Hallett
Developed initially as elite objects for the Ottoman court in the late fifteenth century, these carpets are associated with the town of Ushak, in west-central Anatolia, the most active carpet-producing centre in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Medallion carpets have centralized compositions with large ogival medallions with crenellated collars and pendants at each end, while the Star carpets have complex designs of octofoil medallions and diamond-shaped secondary motifs organized in a large lattice. Both types are rendered in the characteristic 'Ushak' colour palette, in which tomato red, dark blue, and golden yellow predominate, and are covered with floral arabesques and loosely sprinkled blossoms, originally inspired by Persian illumination, book binding and carpet design.
The first Italian depictions of these Turkish carpets appear on the steps in front of Doge Andrea Gritti in Paris Bordone's Return of the Doge's Ring, 1534 (Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice), and had probably only recently arrived in Venice as diplomatic gifts. In Portuguese paintings representations of them are rare; a simplified Medallion carpet with a cloud-band border appears in a painting of the Judgement of Saint Sebastian, from the last third of the sixteenth century (Palácio Nacional de Sintra). Quite precise copies of Star and Medallion carpets are found, however, among the repertoire of patterns in surviving Portuguese stitched carpets (or 'Arraiolos'), and they certainly did attract the attention of the Portuguese elite. At least two of these large 'Ushak' carpets with red medallions on a blue ground are documented in the inventory of the 5th Duke of Bragança, D. Teodósio I (d. 1563), and the high values attributed to them (28,000 reis and 20,000 reis) emphasize their high quality, novelty and large dimensions (c. 640 cm and 470 cm in length), which made them suitable for display in the most important rooms of the Ducal Palace at Vila Viçosa.
Bibliography:
HALLETT, Jessica and PEREIRA, Teresa Pacheco (eds.), The Oriental Carpet in Portugal, carpets and paintings, 15th to 18th centuries, Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga/ Instituto dos Museus e da Conservação, exhibition catalogue, 2007. PEREIRA, Teresa Pacheco, Tapetes de Arraiolos, Lisbon, SILVIP, no date. RABY, Julian, "Court and Export, Part I: Market Demands in Ottoman Carpets" and "Court and Export, Part II: The Usak Carpets", Oriental Carpet and Textile Studies, vol. 2, 1986, pp. 29-38 and pp. 177-187.
Author: Jessica Hallett