Lotto Carpet

Unknown

17th century · Wool (warp, weft and pile); symmetrically knotted pile · Islamic Art

The palette and design of this carpet recalls the famous "Lotto" carpets, named after a well-known altarpiece by Italian Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto, that depicts a piece with a striking field pattern of geometrically stylized vegetal arabesques in yellow on a red ground. While the earliest examples of carpets using this design probably date from before 1500, the design remained popular for several centuries, and large numbers were exported to Europe they frequently appeared in paintings. The pattern of this carpet is designed around the motif of a stylized peony blossom repeated in a linear movement in both the field and the border. While the floral style of this Lotto carpet points to a seventeenth century dating, the fine lines dividing the center field in three parts and converging at one end to form a triangle, recall the niche design of Anatolian prayer rugs, in which the mihrab or prayer-niche remained a popular motif.

Artist

Unknown

Date

17th century

Medium

Wool (warp, weft and pile); symmetrically knotted pile

Department

Islamic Art

Credit line

The James F. Ballard Collection, Gift of James F. Ballard, 1922