Cairene Ottoman prayer rug/ sajjadah, 16th century. sold at Sotheby's 06/01/1982, lot 96, ￡46,200


John Taylor's notes on this carpet: "This is an all-silk foundation piece with blue cotton as a ground colour in the border,and white cotton in the spandrels. It is said to have come from Amberley Palace and was initially purchased by a London dealer, before being acquired by Eberhart Herrmann.
Writing in the Kuwait Museum catalogue,Friedrich Spuhler notes that the Amberley Palace rug was purchased at Sothebys by an English dealer who removed the "European lettering"(whatever that may be) from the field. In fact the field was embellished with "embroidery in the Turkish style, as noted by Herrmann in his catalogue entry (SOT IV,page 58)"


Information and picture courtesy: John Taylor, rugtracker.com