U-1077 - Oversize Antique Turkish Oushak Rug

This stunningly beautiful antique Oushak from Turkey depicts dazzling botanical patterns woven in gold ivory violet and rose over a wonderful sky blue central field. An elegant border containing rows of floral patterns in gold ivory blue and violet surrounds the central field of this magnificent rug. Rug is in very good condition with a low pile that adds the patina so special in antique rugs.
Antique Oushaks are known for their soft palettes combined with eccentric drawing. The relatively coarse weaves, here on a wool foundation, mean vinery and branches are bent and broken rather than flowing smoothly, and individual motives develop chunky outlines rather than precisely even edges. The range, imagination and individuality of examples is noteworthy. Oushaks are known for their soft palettes combined with eccentric drawing. Oushak in western Turkey has the longest continuous rug weaving history, stretching back at least to the mid-fifteenth century. It has always been oriented commercially, supplying rugs and carpets, from scatters up to enormous mansion sizes, to both the Turkish/Ottoman domestic markets and to exports into Britain, and America. The best-known family portrait of George Washington has an Oushak beneath the Founder and his family. Doesn’t get more esteemed than that. Of course, the carpets have constantly changed as tastes, trends, styles, and markets evolved. In the late 19th/early 20th centuries, Persian or Persianate patterns were adopted, and dimensions mutated into Western room sizes.