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Large Fragmentary Ushak “Quatrefoil” Carpet

Culture
Turkish
Period
Ottoman period, 1281–1924
Date
16th century
Material
Wool
made in
Turkey, Asia
Classification
Coverings & hangings, textiles
Collection
Islamic Art
Current Location
Not on view
Dimensions
119 x 90 1/4 in. (302.3 x 229.2 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of James F. Ballard
Rights
Public Domain
Object Number
98:1929
NOTES
Although this Star Ushak is unique for its motif of a repeated blue star and diamond combined, it is characteristically Ushak in the coloring of blue medallions on a brilliant red field. Star Ushak carpets typically consist of large star-shaped medallions which alternate with smaller diamond-shaped units. Curving arabesque forms and floral elements fill the remaining spaces. The town of Ushak in western Anatolia (present-day Turkey) was known for its carpet weaving since the 15th century. The popularity of the Star Ushak design in the West can be seen in the many times it was represented in paintings, the number of carpets exported, and the European copies of the design. This rug is one of 110 oriental carpets donated to the museum from the collection of St. Louisian James F. Ballard. Ballard is recognized as one of the most significant American collectors of oriental carpets in the early 20th century.
- 1925
V. and L. Benguiat [Vitall Benguiat (1865–1937) and Leopold Benguiat (1863–1953)], Paris, France, and New York, NY, USA [1]

1925/12/4
at auction, American Art Association, Inc., XV–XVIII Century Rugs: The Private Collection of the Messrs. Vitall and Leopold Benguiat, Paris & New York: Seventy-three Collectors' Rugs and Carpets Assembled by the Owners over a Period of Many Years, Representing Specimens from Churches and Palaces in Portugal, Spain and Italy and from Private Collections in America, December 4–5, 1925 (New York: American Art Association, Inc., 1925), lot no. 22 (halftone illustration).

1925 - 1929
James F. Ballard [James Franklin Ballard (1851–1931)], St. Louis, MO and New York, NY, purchased from V. and L. Benguiat through American Art Association, Inc. [3]

1929 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by James F. Ballard [4]


Notes:
[1] This object is published in the auction catalogue by American Art Association, Inc., XV–XVIII Century Rugs: The Private Collection of the Messrs. Vitall and Leopold Benguiat, Paris & New York: Seventy-three Collectors' Rugs and Carpets Assembled by the Owners over a Period of Many Years, Representing Specimens from Churches and Palaces in Portugal, Spain and Italy and from Private Collections in America, December 4–5, 1925 (New York: American Art Association, Inc., 1925), lot no. 22 (halftone illustration), and erroneously listed in the catalogue as "Hispano-Moresque Rug." The lot was sold on December 4, 1925, during the first of two sessions at the auction.

[2] See note [1].

[3] This object is published in Arthur Upham Pope, Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Early Oriental Carpets from Persia, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Egypt and Spain (Chicago: The Art Club of Chicago, 1926), pp. 97–99, cat. no. 42 (halftone illustration on p. 98); and Maurice S. Dimand, The Ballard Collection of Oriental Rugs in the City Art Museum of St. Louis (St. Louis: 1935), pl. XVI (color illustration). In the latter catalogue's foreword (dated June 1930), the donor, James F. Ballard, states that he gave 69 objects to the Museum in May 1929. The Deed of Gift of the James F. Ballard Collection is dated May 2, 1929.

[4] Minutes of the Administrative Board of the City Art Museum, April 22, May 7, and December 6, 1929.
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Hear Expert Commentary

  • Speaker: Walter B. Denny, PhD
    University Distinguished Scholar | Islamic, Museum Studies, Orientalism
    University of Massachusetts Amherst

    The Ballard four-lobed Ushak carpet, isn’t a complete carpet. It’s about two-thirds of the original. We don’t know why it was cut down; probably to fit in somebody’s living room in a previous century. It remains in every expert’s imagination as the quintessential example of an Ushak carpet in all of the glory of its original pile condition. The coloration and texture are very unusual and the design itself is virtually unique in Ushak carpets. All of this makes this particular carpet, not only one-of-a-kind, but also a window into a kind of class of carpets that has survived in numerous examples down into our own time, but almost never in the condition that we see in this fabulous object. It’s a tribute to Ballard that in a time where other collectors might have turned up their noses at the fact that the carpet was fragmentary (was not complete) that he realized that here was something unique in the world—that nobody else had. And now, of course, we have it in St. Louis.

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