Antique Yuruk Divan Cover from Eastern Turkey, late nineteenth century
This magnificent antique Yuruk has a design that goes back to the so-called 'Holbein' pattern carpets of the Early Ottoman period. A bold framework of intersecting borders produces a grid of squares, each containing hooked medallions of Holbein type. The borders are filled in turn by cruciform squares and 'Memling Guls.' The relatively simplified exterior borders of hooked lozenges barely compete with the grand field design, allowing it to have our total attention. Although it looks like the left border is missing, the rug was made this way. A corresponding piece with the right border left out was the other half of the rug, woven separately so that they could each be tucked more easily into the horizontal crease between the seat and back of a Turkish sofa or Divan as upholstery covers. The deep palette of reds, blues, and apricot with ivory accents sets the design off to great effect.
