A PANEL OF BROCADED SILK WITH CARNATIONS AND POMEGRANATES
Possibly Italy for the Ottoman export market, 16th - 17th century

A PANEL OF BROCADED SILK WITH CARNATIONS AND POMEGRANATES
Possibly Italy for the Ottoman export market, 16th - 17th century

A directional rectangular panel of crimson satin silk brocaded in blue and white silk, silver thread, and precious metal thread wound around a silk core, decorated with a grand design of ogival interlocking scaled trellis containing trios of stylised flowers, the central flowerhead of chequered design reminiscent of a pomegranate, the connecting points with stylised coronets, blue and white silk highlights of serrated leaves, lined in red silk, 57cm x 19cm.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Italian silk industry was starting to be eclipsed by the French, Italian silk merchants saw an opportunity for expansion into the Ottoman silk market, creating fabrics that spoke to the Turkish audience and artistic vocabulary, retaining at the same time a Western flare. Though Italian-Ottoman velvet brocades are better known to collectors and easier to identify, the brocaded silks remain important examples of the type and relevant witnesses of these early exchanges between the Sublime Porte and the West.

(Quantity:1)

Dimensions: 57cm x 19cm