OTTOMAN TURKEY, 17TH CENTURY

This Ottoman embroidery, and that of the following lot, is characterized by strong colours and large-scale floral shapes. Although the pattern of tulip and artichoke palmettes is not unusual, this panel and that of the following lot are distinctive in the large scale of the motifs. A late 17th century bohça panel with motifs almost as large was exhibited in London (David Black and Clive Loveless, Embroidered Flowers from Thrace to Tartary, London, 1981, no.5). A later example of a similar pattern is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Marianne Ellis and Jennifer Wearden, Ottoman Embroidery, London, 2001, p.18, pl.23). Like ours, most 16th and 17th century wrapping cloths were embroidered in silk thread (predominantly red and blue) on a linen ground. The 18th and 19th centuries saw the introduction of gold and silver wire and foundation fabrics such as velvet or satin (Hülya Bilgi and Idil Zanbak, Ottoman Embroideries in the Sadberk Hanim Museum Collection. Skill of the Hand, Delight of the Eye, exhibition catalogue, Istanbul, 2012, p.26). An unusual and original feature of both this bohça and that of the following lot are the survival of the normally corrosive original black details and outlines.