Carpet
Category
Carpets, rugs and mats
Date
circa 1550 - 1600
Materials
Wool
Measurements
213 cm (Width); 376.5 cm (Length)
Place of origin
Ushak
Collection
Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
NT 1129446
Summary
A large woolen Ushak carpet, Usak, Western Turkey, circa 1550 - 1600. Structure of a slightly depressed weave with double weft in red wool and symmetric knotted pile. Centred by a large red ogival medallion of flowering stems and palmettes and with four corner medallions, the ground dark blue. Possibly one of three carpets [the others NT 1129460 and NT 1129800] at Hardwick mentioned in the 1601 inventory, which mentions carpets both for floors ('a foot turkie carpett') and for laying upon furniture, and which distinguishes between Oriental imports and British copies, or 'turkie worke'. Carpets of this type were depicted in portraits of English sitters from the second quarter of the 16th century. Bess of Hardwick's eldest son, Henry, travelled to Constantinople, or Istanbul, in 1589, and the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury was informed in 1585 when a ship laden with carpets arrived in London. Embroidered label "Gallery"
Provenance
Transferred to the National Trust from the Treasury in 1984.
References
Beattie, 1959: May H.Beattie, “Antique rugs at Hardwick Hall.” Oriental Art 5.22 (1959)., pp. 56 - 7, Figure 4 McDowell, 1988: Joan Allgrove McDowell. “The textiles at Hardwick Hall.” Hali Magazine 39, 40 1988., p. 39 Rowell, Christopher, 'Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Carpets at Hardwick', in Hardwick Hall: A Great Old Castle of Romance, eds., David Adshead and David Taylor (2016), 350