'Holbein' Carpet

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 459

Named after a famous portrait by Hans Holbein the Younger that depicts a similar carpet draped over a table, the pattern of this early Turkish carpet is one of the most fundamental of all carpet designs. Many other carpet patterns are derived from its arrangement of small knotlike medallions and diamond-shaped strapwork. Its interlaced border is related to the kufic border found in many early 'Lotto' carpets. "Holbein" carpets were woven in Anatolia as early as the fourteenth century, and became popular in Europe from the fifteenth century onward.

'Holbein' Carpet, Wool; symmetrically (?) knotted pile

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