Small_pattern_Holbein_carpet_Anatolia_16th_century

Holbein carpet with large medallions 16th century Central Anatolia

Holbein carpets are a type of

carpet A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester hav ...

taking their name from Hans Holbein the Younger, due to their depiction in European Renaissance paintings, although they are shown in paintings from many decades earlier than Holbein. The art historian Kurt Erdmann has sub-divided the "Holbein" design into four types (of which Holbein actually only painted two); they are among the commonest designs of Anatolian carpet seen in Western Renaissance paintings. Their production started by the mid-15th century, and continued to be produced for nearly two centuries. All are purely geometric and use a variety of arrangements of

lozenge Lozenge or losange may refer to: * Lozenge (shape), a type of rhombus *Throat lozenge, a tablet intended to be dissolved slowly in the mouth to suppress throat ailments *Lozenge (heraldry), a diamond-shaped object that can be placed on the field of ...

s, crosses and octagonal motifs within the main field. The sub-divisions are between: *Type I: Small-pattern Holbein. This type is defined by an infinite repeat of small patterns, with alternating rows of octagons and staggered rows of diamonds, as seen in Holbein the Younger's ''Portrait of Georg Gisze'' (1532), or the

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(1608). *Type II: now more often called

Lotto carpet A Lotto carpet is a hand-knotted, patterned Turkish carpet that was produced primarily during the 16th and 17th centuries along the Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey, although it was also copied in various parts of Europe. It is characterized by ...

s. *Type III: Large-pattern Holbein. The motifs in the field inside the border consist of one or two large squares filled with octagons, placed regularly, and separated from each other and from the borders by narrow stripes. There are no secondary " gul (in armenian "vard", i.e. "rose")" motifs. The carpet in Holbein's ''

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'' is of this type. *Type IV: Large-pattern Holbein. Large, square, star-filled compartments are combined with secondary, smaller squares containing octagons or other "gul" motifs. In contrast to the other types, which only contain patterns of equal scale, the type IV Holbein shows subordinate ornaments of unequal scale. Holbein frequently used carpets in portraits, on tables for most sitters, but on the floor for Henry VIII. File:Verrocchio e lorenzo di credi, madonna di piazza 03.jpg,

Verrocchio Andrea del Verrocchio (, , ; – 1488), born Andrea di Michele di Francesco de' Cioni, was a sculptor, Italian painter and goldsmith who was a master of an important workshop in Florence. He apparently became known as ''Verrocchio'' after the ...

's ''Madonna with Saint John the Baptist and Donatus'' 1475-1483. File:Massgiles.jpg,

Master of Saint Giles The Master of Saint Giles (french: Maître de Saint-Gilles) was a Franco-Flemish painter active, probably in Paris, about 1500, working in a delicate Late Gothic manner, with rendering of textures and light and faithful depictions of actual int ...

, ''Mass of Saint Giles'', c. 1500, with a Type III Holbein carpet. File:Hans_Holbein_the_Younger_-_The_Ambassadors_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg, French ambassador to England Jean de Dinteville in '' "The Ambassadors"'', by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1533. This is a "large-pattern Holbein", Type III.

Notes

References

* Brown, David Alan, Peter Humfrey and Mauro Lucco ''Lorenzo Lotto: Rediscovered Master of the Renaissance'', New Haven, Yale University Press, 1997. *King, Donald and Sylvester, David eds. ''The Eastern Carpet in the Western World, From the 15th to the 17th century'', Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1983, * Mack, Rosamond E., ''Bazaar to Piazza: Islamic Trade and Italian Art, 1300-1600'', Los Angeles, University of California Press, 2002.
{{Rugs and carpets Armenian rugs and carpets

See also

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References