OTTOMAN SILK AND METAL-THREAD EMBROIDERED COVER DECORATED WITH SPRING BLOSSOMS

Silk cover decorated with embroidered spring flowers and with metal-wrapped thread. This richly embroidered ceremonial cover was probably used during religious ceremonies or social gatherings. The decoration we see in this piece becomes fashionable from the 18th century onwards and appears on various luxurious embroidered textiles, particularly napkins, towels and covers.

In the Ottoman period flowers, decorating the present cover, were a constant part of daily life, grown in gardens everywhere from palaces to humble homes. Flowers were blessed reminders of the gardens of heaven. Foreign travellers and ambassadors who visited the empire frequently remarked about this love of flowers. The 17th century Ottoman writer and traveller Evliya Çelebi describes how vases of roses, tulips, hyacinths, narcissi and lilies were placed between the rows of worshippers in the Eski Mosque and the Üç Şerefeli Mosque in Edirne, and how their scent filled the prayer halls. As depicted in the present cover, vases of flowers adorned niches in the walls, dining trays and rows of vases were placed around rooms and pools. For further information please see, Motif from the Sadberk Hanım Museum Collection (written by Turgut Saner, Şebnem Eryavuz and Hülya Bilgi), Sadberk Hanım Museum, Istanbul, 2020, pp. 86-90.

A comparable Ottoman embroidery is in the Washington Textile Museum. Please see, Sumru Belger Krody, Flowers of Silk & Gold – Four Centuries of Ottoman Embroidery Washington Textile Museum, 2000, p. 120. For comprehensive discussion of the subject and examples of comparable embroideries please also see, Roderick Taylor, OttomanEmbroidery Studio Vista, London, 1993, pp.106-111.

Provenance: Ex-Private UK Collection

Ottoman Empire 16th Century

Dimensions: 74 x 40 cm.