A 'STAR' USHAK CARPET

One of the most iconic of all carpet designs, it is not hard to see why the 'star' design woven in Ushak has such enduring appeal. This is a particularly fine early example with wonderful clarity of drawing. The earliest Star Ushaks are in keeping with early Turkish design traditions (Tapis Present de L'Orient A L'Occident, Exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1989, p.94) with a strong allusion to an infinite repeat, and as such the design can be found in many differently proportioned versions. It is one of the earliest Ottoman carpets to have been depicted in a European context. The painter Paris Bordone depicted a 'Star' Ushak under the throne of a Venetian Doge in his 1534 painting, Fisherman Presenting a Ring to the Doge Gradenigo, ( Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice) and at least three paintings of the English King Henry VIII (r.1509-1547) by Hans Holbein and Hans Eworth show him standing on carpets of this design ('Portraits of King Henry VIII', Hali, Vol.3 no.3, pp.176-181).

The present example is one of the most desirable versions of the design with beautifully drawn eight-lobed medallions and diamond lozenges. Despite lacking both end borders, the present carpet is very similar to the 'Star' Ushak in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, formerly in the McMullan Collection, (M.S. Dimand and Jean Mailey, Oriental Rugs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1973, fig.163, p.152).