Oriental carpets in Renaissance painting
Carpets of Middle-Eastern origin, either from Anatolia, Persia, Armenia, Levant, the Mamluk state of Egypt or Northern Africa, were used as decorative features in Western European paintings from the 14th century onwards. More depictions of Oriental carpets in Renaissance painting survive than actual carpets contemporary with these paintings. Few Middle-Eastern carpets produced before the 17th century remain, though the number of these known has increased in recent decades. Therefore, comparative art-historical research has from its onset in the late 19th century relied on carpets represented in datable European paintings.
Petrus Christus, The Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints Jerome and Francis (detail), 1457, with a realistic depiction of a pile-woven carpet. Städel Museum, Frankfurt
Jan van Eyck, Lucca Madonna (detail), c. 1430. Städel Museum, Frankfurt
Image: Gentile Bellini Madonna and Child Enthroned late 15th century
Image: Re entrant prayer rug Anatolia late 15th early 16th century reverse
Anatolian rug is a term of convenience, commonly used today to denote rugs and carpets woven in Anatolia and its adjacent regions. Geographically, its area of production can be compared to the territories which were historically dominated by the Ottoman Empire. It denotes a knotted, pile-woven floor or wall covering which is produced for home use, local sale, and export, and religious purpose. Together with the flat-woven kilim, Anatolian rugs represent an essential part of the regional culture, which is officially understood as the Culture of Turkey today, and derives from the ethnic, religious and cultural pluralism of one of the most ancient centres of human civilisation.
Anatolian double-niche rug, Konya region, circa 1750–1800. LACMA M.2004.32
Bergama rug, west Anatolia, first half of 18th century.
17th-century Ottoman velvet cushion cover, with stylized carnation motifs. Floral motifs were common in Ottoman art.
Animal carpet, dated to the 11th–13th century, Museum of Islamic Art, Doha