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

Oxidised browns, lower end guard stripe slightly reduced, ends secured, re-overcast sides; pile generally with knotbars visible in field, variable pile in border, ranging from knotbars in centre of upper border to 3-4mm. in side borders; old reweave in centre of lower part of field, approx. 25 by 10cm. (red ground of reweave now faded); crescent shaped patch in upper right hand border approx. 5cm. wide and 12 cm. long; two very minor(3 by 3cm. approx.) cobbled patches; 2 by 8cm. approx. reweave along upper edge; some surface dirt; very robust weave; overall in exceptionally good condition for age.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

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.