OTTOMAN VELVET DECORATED WITH CARNATIONS SURROUNDED BY TULIPS

Velvet decorated with carnations in an ogival lattice, carnations framed by smaller tulips and carnations.

Carnations and tulips were among the most favoured flowers in the Ottoman decorative repertoire. The tulip has a symbolic meaning. The letters of the word tulip (Lâle [ هللا]) in Turkish and Persian are the same letters used for writing the word Allah [ اللَّه] (God). These two words have the same numerological value in the abjad system (a decimal alphabetic numeral system in which the twenty-eight letters of the Arabic alphabet are assigned numerical values). Tulip is one of the leading decorative elements in Ottoman art; frequently used together with roses, hyacinths, saz leaves. It is also used with khatai blossoms as can be seen in the present tile. Tulip also played a role in imagery in Ottoman poetry. In many poems, tulip leaves are likened to the cheeks of the beloved. The word lāleh-khad (lâle-had), often used in Ottoman poetry, means ‘tulip-cheeked’. Tulips were among the most favoured motifs used in the Ottoman court workshops in the 16th century. The name ‘tulip’ is thought to have derived from the Turkish word tülbend (from the Persian word دنبلد [dulband]) -meaning ‘large cotton band which is used in the making of turban or headgear’- because of the fancied resemblance of the flower to a turban.

During the 16th and 17th centuries interest in tulip breeding grew in Istanbul and şükufenames (books on flowers) and treatises were written about tulips. 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. 90-93.

Like the tulip and rose, the carnation is one of the flowers frequently mentioned in Ottoman court poetry where it is likened to the face or cheek of the beloved. From the second half of the 16th century carnations are one of the most widely used motifs in designs by palace artists for fabrics, embroideries, tiles and ceramic ware. In the late 16th century stylised, fan- shaped carnation motifs were much favoured by the Ottoman elite and used to decorate imperial velvets like the present example. 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. 98-99.

A comparable velvet with carnations in an ogival lattice is in the Etnographic Museum (Inv. No. 4304), Ankara. Please see, Nurhan Atasoy, etal.İpek–TheCrescent& the Rose: Imperial Ottoman Silks and Velvets, Azimuth Editions, London, 2001, p. 304, pl. 309. Another velvet with similar decoration is in the Sadberk Hanım Museum (inv. no. 15862-D.242), Istanbul. Please see the exhibition catalogue, Asırlar Sonra Bir Arada: Sadberk Hanım Müzesi’nin Yurtdışından Türkiye’ye Kazandırdığı Eserler, Istanbul, 2005, p. 125.

Provenance: Ex-Private Charles Ratton Collection

Charles Ratton (1895-1986)

Born in 1895, Charles Ratton was a world-famous art collector, expert and dealer who was a famous defender of art from Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania. He gained an art history degree from the Ecole du Louvre in Paris. In the early years of his studies he was interested in the art of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. By the 1920s he became interested in tribal art. Ratton was granted a dealer’s license in 1927. He founded his business at his apartment on rue de Marignan. In the 1930s he organised several important exhibitions. He became close friends with Andre Breton, Tristan Tzara and Paul Eluard. In 1936 he held and exhibition of surrealist works at his gallery. He played an important role in the formation of the US market in tribal art. He died in 1986. For further information please see, Gareth Harris, ‘Tribute to a Tastemaker: Charles Ratton’, Financial Times, 19 July 2013.