Cleveland Museum of Art

Brocaded velvet cover with sunbursts

Date

early 1600s

Medium

velvet, brocaded: silk, gilt- and silver-metal thread, and cotton

Culture

Turkey, Istanbul or Bursa

Department

Textiles

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The rare sunburst pattern contrasts in its boldness with delicate floral motifs; the sunburst’s dynamic rays terminate in small tulips bearing hyacinths that alternate with peacock feathers. Interstitial motifs display the favorite telltale Turkish flora of carnations, tulips, and hyacinths. Quantities of luxury textiles were made for the Ottoman sultans, who were the largest consumers of textiles in the Western world by the mid-1500s and early 1600s. Textiles were lavishly displayed in ceremonies, presented as splendid robes of honor, and visible as furnishing fabrics in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul where they spoke to the vast power and unfathomable wealth of the Ottoman Empire.

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