WEST ANATOLIA, FIRST HALF 16TH CENTURY

A very small number of small medallion Ushak rugs share all the elements found in the present example. One is the de Beaucorps small medallion Ushak rug in the Musée des Tissues, Lyon (inv.no.29.069; Hali 35, July/September 1987, p.38, pl.XXIV) while a second, from an Austrian Collection, was sold in these Rooms 12 October 2000, lot 199). Four further examples which are identical in design except that they have the hexagonal medallion variant should be added to the group. One was found in the Sheikh Baba Yusuf mosque in Sivrihisar-Eskisehir and is now in the Museum of Turkish and Applied Arts, Istanbul (Ölçer, Nazan et al.: Turkish Carpets from the 13th-18th Centuries, Istanbul, 1966, pl.142); a second is in a private American Collection (Walker, Daniel: Oriental Rugs of the Hajji Babas, New York, 1982, pl.2), a third is in the Textile Museum, Washington (Hali 48, December 1989, p.43), while a fourth is in the Metropolitan Museum (Dimand, M.S. and Mailey, Jean: Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1983, no.83, fig.169). Even the form of the small serrated lozenge pendant is identical in all of these. They are also typified by a finesse of weave that is finer than most of the others in the group and by particularly tight drawing. It is probable that they are all from the same workshop.

One further rug sheds an interesting light on this group. The same spandrels and medallion as are found in the present rug are also found in a fragmentary rug in the Rhode Island School of Design (Through the Collector's Eye, Oriental Rugs from New England Private Collections, Rhode Island, 1991, no.1, p.28). The lower spandrel, although filled with the same cloudband motifs as the upper one, lacks the constraining linear arch outline, showing an intermediate stage in the development of the double-niche prayer rug. The similarity of drawing of the present group to that one also indicates that this group is probably relatively early in the development of the type.