Florentine Silk Velvet Costume Panel Circa 1600

This panel is over 400 hundred years old. A very rare survivor, most other examples are in Museum collections

Please study photographs as they do form a very important part of the description

Should probably now be mounted and preserved within a frame for future generations to

SIZE 45 inches x 22 inches narrowing to 16 inches (115cm x 56cm narrowing to 41cm)

The design on this ceremonial Italian velvet, probably from Florence, is closely related to the long-sleeved, short ceremonial kaftan, associated with Sultan Mehmed IV (r. 1648-87). Please see: Tezcan, Delibaş & Rogers, Topkapi – Costumes, Embroideries and other Textiles, London, 1986, cat. 49.

Italian velvets were highly desirable at the Ottoman court for their three-dimensionality and status as prestigious imports. In the textile collection of the Topkapı Palace the kaftans made of Ottoman velvet are a minority, as most surviving pieces are Italian textiles made for Ottoman patrons.

For similar Italian velvets made for the Ottoman palace circles please see: Medicilerden Savoylara Floransa Saraylarında Osmanlı Görkemi, SSM, Istanbul, 2003, pp. 172-3. Venezia e Istanbul in Epoca Ottomana, Electa, Venice, 2010, pp. 222-3.