Page 221 - The Age of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent

highly stylized large eight-petaled blossoms enclosing rose- stylized version of spring flowers was popularly employed on
buds alternating with carnations. Ruby-red pile appears in the a series of velvets with the same colors produced in the sec-
background of the main motifs, which are voided and woven ond half of the sixteenth century. If the Detroit nihale was
in ivory; bluish-green and red pile are used to outline the used in Andrea Doria's flagship during his lifetime, it is one
motifs and to render the floral elements, which radiate from of the earliest in the series. Though its date cannot be se-
golden cores. The golden metallic effect is achieved with sil- curely established, the velvet is of superb quality and was
ver strips wrapped around yellow threads. treasured by his descendants.
The border, enclosed by ivory guard stripes outlined in red, An equally refined example combines saz elements with
reveals an ivory ground with a series of large eight-petaled naturalistic floral sprays (153) and employs a different tech-
blossoms that enclose tulips and hyacinths. These blossoms nique, the tapestry weave associated with kilims (flat-woven
are connected by diamonds flanked by carnations and curv- rugs). The fragment contains a wide border flanked by guard
ing leaves. Red and bluish-green pile are used to outline stripes that join together in a stepped formation. In the field
the large blossoms and render the flowers, while golden me- is a large hatayi flanked by a pair of saz leaves that overlap
tallic threads appear in the centers and in the connecting the smaller hatayis and leaves sprouting from its top. The ha-
diamonds. tayi has in its core a blossom enclosed by rumis and trefoils,
Similar to the previous example, red and ivory are em- placed on a gold oval framed by a wide silver zone with flo-
ployed both as the background and as the main design ele- ral scrolls. The flanking silver saz leaves are overlaid by hy-
ments, producing a vibrating composition. The pile of two acinth sprays; the blossoms and leaves sprouting from the ha-
adjoining loom widths faces one direction while the remain- tayi are rendered in silver and overlaid by additional floral
ing two face the other, further enhancing the shimmer of the elements. In the corner is a silver cartouche enclosing rumis,
surface. leaves, and blossoms. The interstices between these elements
The overall pattern creates an effect not unlike that used on are filled with hatayis, blossoming branches, and other types
contemporary U$ak rugs, particularly in the types called of flowers placed on the gold field.
"small-pattern Holbeins" or "Lottos/' This pattern, which can The border contains two superimposed scrolls, also on a
be traced to thirteenth-century Anatolian rugs, was used on gold ground; one bears silver hatayis and the other has blue
star-and-cross wall tiles dating from the Seljuk period. It ap- hatayis with additional blossoms and leaves. The red guard
pears in the frontispiece of a Koran dated 1523/1524 (see 8), stripes are decorated with a series of stars interspersed with
which suggests that nakka^hane themes might have also in- pairs of triangles that create hexagons.
fluenced the weavers. The silver flora in both the field and border are outlined in
This impressive piece, owned by the Detroit Institute of black with red, blue, and green (now much faded) used for
Arts, is in an impeccable state of preservation and has a fasci- the details. The same colors are applied to the other elements.
nating history. It is recorded as having belonged to Andrea Metallic threads are constructed of silver wrapped around
Doria (1466-1560), the famous admiral of the Habsburg em- ivory silk or gilded silver wound around golden beige.
peror Charles V, and was in the Villa Doria-Pamphili in The piece, which has lost a portion of its edge, must have
Rome until 1918. The nihale was said to be the one that been used as a saddlecloth; similar coverings are depicted on
hung behind the throne used by the emperor when he first late-sixteenth-century manuscript illustrations. There is a
visited Andrea Doria's splendid flagship, the Capitana, in complete tapestry-woven example with the same joined
March 1533. 86 Both Charles V and Prince Philip were re- guard stripes and large central oval flanked by floral motifs in
ceived on the ship on subsequent occasions and sat on a the Benaki Museum in Athens. 87
throne set up in front of the velvet hanging. It is thought to The tapestry weave of this piece is unusual for Ottoman
have remained on the Capitana after Andrea Doria's death textiles used as furnishings. Its superb execution and sophisti-
and moved to Rome in the seventeenth century when the cated composition indicate that it was made for the palace,
Villa Doria-Pamphili was built by one of his descendants. employing the designs formulated in the nakka§hane. Tapes-
It is doubtful that the Detroit nihale is the same velvet that try-woven floor coverings with floral themes were produced
hung behind the throne of Charles V when he first visited the from the mid-fifteenth century onward, flourishing in the late
Capitana in 1533. Naturalistic sprays of carnations, hyacinths, sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Their decorative
rosebuds, and tulips as well as palm trees made their appear- repertoire differs from the folk traditions of Anatolia, and is
ance in manuscripts produced in the 1540s, as represented in closely associated with imperial textiles and rugs. It has been
the lacquered doublures of the Hadis dedicated to §ehzade suggested that a number of these court-style kilims were
Mehmed (see 18a), and would not have spread to textiles made to be used as floor coverings in tents. 88
and ceramics until the next decade. The largest group of sixteenth-century Ottoman furnishings
The earliest date in which the nihale could have been housed in European and American collections are covers for
woven is in the 1550s. This particular overall pattern with its bolsters called yastik, which were generally made of voided

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