CIRCA: 1700’s / 18th C.
Timeless beauty is expressed in this outstanding carpet fragment woven in the Cappadocia region of Turkey in the 18th century featuring the so-called ‘Memling gul’*. This pattern with guls (medallions) and hook ornaments is said to be one of the world’s oldest, while the term ‘Memling gul’ comes from a carpet depicted in a painting circa 1485 entitled “Flowers in a Jug” by Hans Memling (center photo, bottom row) where a smaller carpet with the same pattern is used. (Today the painting is in the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.) This impressive fragment was made sometime in the 1700’s / 18th century, has all natural dyes, handspun wool warp, weft and pile, and is mounted on a rustic maroon felt backing the size of which is +/-104cm x 97cm** with the fragment size being about 94cm x 85cm. The deep rich colours, super-fine handspun wool and the still well defined and essentially intact guls make this very old fragment a real collectors piece.
*A link to an online lecture (with many photos) regards the ‘Memling gul’ by renowned carpet expert and collector John Howe https://rjohnhowe.wordpress.com/2010/10/14/the-memling-gul-motif-the-lecture/
** The backing material is rather trapezoidal, as can be seen from the photo on the previous page, that is wider at the bottom than the top. The measurements given here are through the center axis.