« Back to Miniature Needlework
Small-patterned Holbein carpet (No.2)
Small-patterned Holbein carpet (No.2), from "Making Miniature Oriental Rugs & Carpets" by Meik and Ian McNaughton (Guild of Master Craftsman, c1998)
Finished August 2015. Worked on 28-count Monaco canvas; finished size 5 7/8 x 3 1/2 in. (15 x 9cm).
The McNaughtons write that this type of carpet has become known as a "Holbein carpet" because they appear frequently in Holbein's paintings, though in fact they first appeared long before he began to paint. The original of this particular carpet is dated to the fifteenth century, and was probably woven in Bergama, in western Turkey. "A carpet with this pattern appears in a French Gobelin tapestry, one of a series entitled 'The Lady and the Unicorn' woven in Tours in about 1510."
Note that a very similar carpet in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, was made by Muslim weavers in Spain, copying the Turkish patterns.
http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/small-pattern-holbein-carpet-46976