Carpets of Istanbul
Hidden in the fabric of history and culture are symbols crafted for your story.
Holbein carpets are early Ottoman-Turkish carpets. These carpets are named after the German painter Hans Holbein because they were frequently seen in his paintings. Although Holbein did not paint all of these types of carpets, they are known by this name in the literature.
Holbein carpets are divided into four types.
Type 1 Small-Scale Holbein Carpets have patterns that divide the background into small squares, with octagons in the center and a pattern created by the combination of quartered diamonds at the corners of each square. These carpets are reminiscent of Seljuk period carpets.
Type 2 Holbein or Lotto Carpets have patterns similar to Type 1 Holbein carpets, with the addition of plant motifs. These carpets are also known as ""Lotto carpets"" due to the Italian painter Lorenzo Lotto, as Holbein did not paint this type of carpet.
Type 3 Large-Scale Holbein Carpets have simple patterns with equally sized large squares or rectangles filled with octagons stacked on top of each other. The number of these squares and rectangles along the pattern is either 2 or 4.
Type 4 Large-Scale Holbein Carpets have patterns similar to Type 3 Large-Scale Holbein Carpets, with the addition of smaller octagons. Kumkapı Carpets Kumkapı carpets are carpets woven with silk and metal threads in the Kumkapı district of Istanbul, intended for the palace and foreign buyers.
A group of Armenian carpet craftsmen from Central Anatolia settled in the Kumkapı district and began weaving silk carpets. These carpets, named after the Kumkapı district, feature Iranian and Ottoman design characteristics. In carpets influenced by Iran, animal figures in a naturalistic style are woven among Hatayi motifs in the central composition. Carpets influenced by Ottoman palace art are woven in the Saz style.
The most significant feature of Kumkapı carpets is the occasional use of silver threads in the weaving. Today, around 200 examples of Kumkapı carpets have survived. Examples of these carpets can be found in the collections of George F. Farrow, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Vienna Museum Angewandte Kunst, the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, and the Arkas Holding collection.