Ottoman Cushion cover. Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Place of origin: Turkey (made)
Bursa (city), Turkey (probably, made)
Date: 1625-1650 (made)
Materials and Techniques: Voided and brocaded silk velvet. Satin foundation
structure: 4/1 satin, unplied ivory silk filament warp, 1 strand ivory cotton weft.
Satin and velvet warp order 3-1. Velvet structure: red and green silk; pile
counts: warps 10, along weft 14. Brocade structure: wholly brocaded, 4/1
twill; count 16 and 24; 2 shots between pile. Gilt or silver (?) metal wrap,
Z-twist, variable tightness. Uses two different types of kilaptan. Selvedges:
1cm. Uses blue silk warps that use more warp threads closer to the edge; at
one band, the wefts float over a set of warps. Selvedge twill: 2/1 or 3/1. 1.2
cm. and 1 cm.

Back restored and covered with red cotton cloth; though it is difficult to tell, the
main motifs use both gold and silver thread; the silver is in the interior part of
the moons at the bottom of each roundel; gold in the larger parts; the extreme
striations of the green/blue is carried through on the back, which makes it
unlikely that the evenness is the result of fading due to light. One end has
tightly wrapped kilaptan.

Museum number: 423-1889
Gallery location: Islamic Middle East, room 42, case WE10
Descriptive line
Cushion cover, voided and brocaded silk velvet or çatma, with large staggered roundels containing red roses and crescents, and arched
lappets at upper and lower borders, probably Bursa, Ottoman Turkey, 1625-1650
Physical description
Cushion cover, voided and brocaded silk velvet or çatma, with main design of staggered roundels containing red roses and crescents, set
against red ground, with rosebud and crescent lappets at upper and lower borders. Straight repeat pattern on horizontal axis and point repeat
on vertical axis with two minimum pattern areas

URL: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O85112/cushion-cover/