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'Bellini' carpet, XVI century, Ushak, Turkey (Western Anatolia), Ottoman Empire. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no: 22.100.109)


'Bellini' Carpet
Object Name: Carpet Date: first half 16th century
Geography: Turkey, Ushak
Culture: Islamic
Medium: Wool (warp, weft and pile); symmetrically knotted pile
Dimensions: Rug: L. 69 in. (175.3 cm) W. 42 in. (106.7 cm) Mount: L. 75 5/8 in. (192.1 cm) Wt. 95 lbs. (43.1 kg) W. 46 1/2 in. (118.1 cm) D. 2 5/8 in. (6.7 cm) Classification: Textiles-Rugs
Credit Line: The James F. Ballard Collection, Gift of James F. Ballard, 1922
Accession Number: 22.100.109
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The significance of the unusual "keyhole" motif in the bottom portion of this and other similar carpets is a source of debate. Some scholars interpret it as representing a mihrab (a niche indicating the direction of Mecca) or a gateway, while others see it as a fountain associated with ablutions performed before prayer. Carpets exhibiting this design have come to be known as "Bellini" carpets, after the Venetian artist Giovanni Bellini (d. 1516), who portrayed such weavings placed under the feet of the Madonna in his paintings.

James F. Ballard, St. Louis, MO (until 1922; gifted to MMA)


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Husband and Wife
1523
Oil on canvas, 98 x 118 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

by Lorenzo Lotto - Italian painter, Venetian school (b. ca. 1480, Venezia, d. 1556, Loreto)