- Inspired by a velvet panel with crowns
This panel is composed of two strips of velvet sewn down the middle, decorated with a trellis pattern of small leaves surrounding a tulip motif.
Regularly spaced crowns interrupt the network of mandorlas. They illustrate the link between Ottoman and Italian velvet, which were imported in great numbers to the Sublime Porte, as they were particularly appreciated for the manufacture of kaftans and ceremonial robes.
The design of this fabric demonstrates a major western influence and its origin is still open to question. Some technical clues, however, indicate that it was definitely produced in the Ottoman empire, perhaps in the town of Bursa in Anatolia, the main centre for silk weaving in the 15th and 16th centuries.