ITALIAN & OTTOMAN VELVETS

72 I HALI 144

had dwindled, but their return heralded a reciprocal mercantile and artistic exchange between Italy and the Ottomans apparent in the textile designs of both cultures. Our collector’s father grew up in Galata, a Genoese colony since the 13th century. Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire he left Istanbul to settle in Italy. His offspring were raised amidst the glories of the Renaissance. Our collector’s house is flooded with natural light that glints on each fibre in the silken pile of his precious velvets. Both Ottoman and Italian, they reflect his family’s peripatetic past. All of them are in shades of red. "I like red" he says. Velvet weaving was probably invented in Italy, and the first guild specifically concerned with its production was founded in Venice in 1347. It is therefore fitting that among his earliest pieces are a pair of 15th century Italian ferronerievelvets in a profound ruby-red (1), probably from an ecclesiastical cope. The voided design is deceptive, as it appears to comprise offset rows of independent forms, each resembling the back of a lobed handmirror, with scrolling lines forming the base. Closer inspection reveals that it is in fact an ogival repeat that lacks only minor links to complete the lattice. The carefully positioned pomegranates are cradled by groups of furling leaves. A larger variant of this motif appears on later Ottoman velvets, but with more emphasis on the leaves and with rosettes replacing the fruit, it looks more like a palm tree, particularly whenit finds its way to the embroideries (HALI 98, p.98, fig.1). Our collection has no Ottoman velvets with ogival designs, but it does have a splendid late 15th/early 16th century Italian example (2). The lattice is formed by twisted ropes of leaves and floral motifs that enclose pointed medallions surrounded by tightly aligned pears. A comparable formation appears around the central medallions on a number of Ottoman yastıks (cushion covers), but the rounded pear has become a tulip with a plump base (see Gaston Migeon, La Collection Kelekian, pl.94). The upper row of ogees has an interpretation of the
3. Above left: Italian velvet, 16th century. Silk pile, silver thread ground, details in gold bouclé, 0.59 x 1.15m (2'0" x 3'9"). Private collection

4. Below left: Ottoman çintamani velvet fragment (detail), Turkey, Bursa, second half 15th century. Silk and silver-wrapped thread, 0.17 x 0.42m (7" x 1'5"). Formerly Bernheimer Collection, Christie’s, London, 2 October 1996, lot 140, pl.17. Private collection

5. Right: Ottoman velvet yastık, Turkey, Bursa, late 16th or 17th century. Silk, cotton and metal-wrapped thread, 0.64 x 1.12m (2'1" x 3'8"). Lefevre & Partners, London, November 28th, 1980, lot 19. Private collection

ITALIAN & OTTOMAN VELVETS

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