FOUR OTTOMAN METAL THREAD-EMBROIDERED PANELS
Ottoman Turkey and Provinces, late 19th - early 20th century

Comprising a rectangular Ottoman hanging, the base in ecru cotton, chain-stitched in pastel-coloured silks, metallic gold thread, and couched in metallic silver thread with a central lobed niche filled with the skyline of the Grand Mosque of Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia), a large mosque lamp hanging in the middle of the arch, a rosette-shaped tughra-style roundel at the top of the composition, surrounded by concentric calligraphic bands, stars, crescent moons, vegetal stems and flowers, edged with sinuous frogging, 119cm x 127cm; and three similar panels, two square, one rectangular, all in pastel-like colours, worked in metallic threads with pseudo-calligraphic embellishments, vegetal and floral motifs, the largest 238cm x 197cm.