An Italian Velvet, for the Ottoman Market, Venice

comprised of two vertically joined panels of repeat pattern of rows of five lobed leaves supported by thick stems, enclosing thistle heads, in silk velvet in cream, green and cerise, on yellow/cream ground, the overall panel edged with metal-braid, mounted within a narrow painted wooden, glazed frame

Collection of Adrien Fauchier-Magnan, Paris and Cannes-La Bocca (d.1965); (Part of Collection was sold, Sotheby's, London, 4th December 1935);
Thence by descent

Comprised of two joined vertical panels: approximately 34cm, and 32cm. wide respectively. The panel has moved down in the frame resulting in some wrinkling in the lower section. The velvet pile is generally in good condition and with good colour overall. There are some sections along the central join where the two panels do not quite join and stitches are visible, and an area of damage at the top section of this join. There is a section across the top edge which shows that one of the panels is not quite covered by the metal-braid, and shows it has been cut and reveals the linen support underneath. Evidence of old horizontal fold line/tension line across width of both, in different areas. There are small splits within the top sections of both panels, to left and right of the central join. There is a small patch in the centre of the right panel, visible as oval area of crimson, at the point of the red five-lobed motif. A lovely example of the type. The textile has not been examined out of its (probably early 20th century) frame The textile would benefit from being de-framed and conservation mounted.
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In the past, velvets of this design were believed to have been Ottoman or Persian, possibly because this is where they were often found. They are now considered Italian on technical grounds, but possibly some were for export to the Ottoman court. During the second half of the fifteenth century several Italian city states such as Venice, Florence and Genoa were famed for their superb polychrome multi level pile velvets. They were so highly prized at the Ottoman court that Istanbul became the largest single export market for luxury Italian textiles, despite the existence of Imperial velvet weaving workshops in Bursa. The Ottoman sultans often dressed in some of the finest Italian velvets and members of the Imperial court, such as the Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha, ordered Venetian silks and velvet cushion covers for his daughter in 1554 (Atasoy & Denny 2001, p.182-190).

Another fragment of this velvet is in the Topkapi Palace Museum and was exhibited in 'Palace of Gold and Light, Treasures from the Topkapi' Istanbul 2000. This velvet was the model for a number of surviving Anatolian rugs of which there are examples in Istanbul and in Paris at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs (inv. 13597). Similar velvets are in the Cleveland Museum of Art (inv. 1940.36), the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon (Ferreira 1982, no.300), the Musée Royaux d'Art et Histoire, Brussels formerly of the Kelekian and Rothschild collections (Errera 1927, no.156), Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan (Zanni & Landini 1999 no.4).

For a very similar comparable panel offered at auction, see Sotheby's, London, Arts of the Islamic World, 6th October 2010, lot 329, which was longer and had two additional rows in the length and was the same panel width (approximately 140cm long, 63cm. wide).