OTTOMAN CARPET

any floor covering handwoven under the earlier Ottoman sultans of Turkey. Extremely fine, handsome carpetsof wool on a foundation of silk, having floral patterning, often with schemes of large or small circular medallionsand comparable prayer rugs were made for the court, possibly at Bursa in the 16th century. Coarser, all-wool examples were made in Cairo after the conquest in 1517 and probably also in Anatolia. In due course many of these carpets were exported to southern Europe, where they have been preserved. Although mentioned in old records, all-silk examples do not seem to have survived.