Uşak. 17th century.

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’, after Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543) and Lorenzo Lotto (1480-1556).

Some 16th/17th century ‘medallion Uşak’-carpets have a simplified version of the main medallions found on carpets of the so-called ‘Large Medallion Uşak’. They are labeled ‘rural medallion’.

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