Unknown Maker, Turkish

This Classical carpet is known as a Holbein-style carpet, refering to the 16th-century German artist Hans Holbein the Younger, who frequently portrayed this type of rug in his paintings. The octagonal interlaced medallions identify the type. In Europe imported carpets from Anatolia were immensely popular, although very costly. The vogue in the West was to drape the carpet over a table or chest, it being far too valuable to walk upon.

Holbein carpets are of a different knotting technique than Persian carpets (see example 2002.33A on display), and the technique of the former lends itself to the geometric interlacing that exemplifies the style.

Mosaics found on walls and pavements in houses at Cairo were the source for this page of patterns from the Grammar of Ornament.

Carpets displaying octagonal medallions and elaborate interlacing have become known as “Holbein” pattern because the 16th-century European artist Hans Holbein depicted such carpets in several of his paintings. This style was known in the West a century before Holbein, and it is possible that it was produced in Turkey specifically for the export market.