The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Rectangular carpet with a central, rectangular section patterned with stylized, geometric yellow leaf patterns against a red ground. Around the border, against a dark blue ground, yellow lines outline scalloped diamond shapes with further symmetrical geometric patterns against a red background inside. A simplified vine winds up and down with a squared shape along the outermost edge against a red ground.

Classical Turkish Carpet with the Lotto Pattern

1600–1650

Turkey, Ushak, Ottoman period

wool: symmetrical rug knot
Overall: 172.1 x 104.1 cm (67 3/4 x 41 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2015.61
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Lotto carpets were depicted in some 200 paintings during the 16th century in the Netherlands.

Description

Lotto carpets have consistent color combinations and striking designs traceable to sources in Central Asia. In the central field, stylized yellow leaf patterns stand out against a red ground. The border is filled with cartouches on a dark blue background, and a simplified vine meanders along the outermost edge. In Islamic contexts, these vegetal patterns evoke paradise.

Made primarily for export in the western Turkish center of Ushak between the 1400s and 1600s, Lotto carpets were named after the Venetian painter Lorenzo Lotto (1480–1556), who amply documented in oil paintings the way Europeans displayed this type of Turkish carpet as a sign of wealth and prestige. To preserve them, Europeans displayed Lotto carpets on tables, though they were originally made for use on the floor.
  • UV examination is a nondestructive analytical technique commonly employed by conservators. Examining an object with the use of a long-wave ultraviolet light, which measures in the 320 to 400 nanometer range and is referred to as UV-A, can reveal anomalies in an object not visible under normal light. When used to examine historic textiles, it can help distinguish between original fibers and modern replacement fibers because of the difference in fluorescence between the two. In this carpet, what may be original fibers do not fluoresce but rather appear a dull red. In contrast, fibers in the stripe running across the carpet at a point about 38.1 cm (15 inches) down from the top edge fluoresce a bright orange. The proper left edge, the outer guard stripe, also fluoresces this same bright orange. The fluorescence in this area does not form a straight line but rather a jagged one, with fluorescence extending into the main border stripe as much as 5.1 cm (2 inches). This may indicate added or replacement knots. The proper right edge also fluoresces, but not to the extent that the proper left edge does.
  • June 1990-April 1991
    (John Eskenazi Ltd., London, UK, sold to a Private Collection)
    April 1991-October 2014
    Private Collection, Bologna, Italy, sold to John Eskenazi
    October 2014-2015
    (John Eskenazi Ltd., London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2015-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Art of the Islamic World (Islamic art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 17, 2024-May 11, 2025).
    Islamic art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (December 21, 2016-December 4, 2017).
  • {{cite web|title=Classical Turkish Carpet with the Lotto Pattern|url=false|author=|year=1600–1650|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2015.61