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