Ushak Smyrna Carpet Fragment, late 17th early 18th century

A Fragment from an Ushak Smyrna Carpet
Western Anatolia, late 17th early 18th century
Mounted on linen backing, 162 x 102 cm. / 5 ft 3 ¾ ins by 3 ft 4 ins

PROVENANCE:
From a private collection, USA

The brick-red field divided by separate rows of dark-blue flowering palmettes and minor light-blue medallions with rosettes.

This attractive fragment comes from a large carpet belonging to a group known as Smyrna carpets, which originate from the Ushak area in West Anatolia and were popular in Europe in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. For an example with a very similar design but on a blue ground, see Mercedes Viale Ferraro, op. cit..

See also a late seventeenth-century red-ground Ushak Smyrna, sold in Christie’s, London, 'David Halevim: Magnificent Carpets & Tapestries', lot 53, which has a similar field design. Another Smyrna carpet, from the Robert Kime Collection (sold Dreweatts, 5 Oct 2023, lot 692), of a slightly later date, has similar colour palette and design albeit with a more squashed pattern in the field.

RELATED LITERATURE:
Mercedes Viale Ferraro, 'Rare Carpets from East and West', Orbis, London, 1972, p. 50, no. 42