Uşak lotto. 16th century.

Specialists generally assign the ‘Lotto’ carpets (also called ‘arabesque carpet’) to the group of ‘Uşak’ rugs.
Furthermore, they subdivide the ‘Lotto’ carpets into three styles: the ‘Anatolian’, the ‘decorated’ and the ‘kilim’ style. The rug on this picture is an example of the ‘kilim’ style, because of the jagged diagonals of the pattern.

Uşak (110 km west of Afyon) was one of the most important and renowned carpet centers in Ottoman times (late 15th to 18th century). Rug production is still going on today, but on a lesser level and with altered designs.
In the 17th century great quantities of Uşak carpets were made for the royal houses and the Christian churches of Europe. They are named according to their specific design: ‘star’, ‘medallion’, ‘bird’, ‘chintamani’ (or: leopard spot), ‘cloud band’ or after renaissance artists who included them in their paintings: ‘Holbein’ and ‘Lotto’.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Source: ‘Oriental Rugs, volume 4: Turkish’ (Zipper & Fritzsche) .