Antique Turkish Rug Size: 4'2" × 5'11" Date: 1880s Material: Wool on Cotton Western Anatolian workshops, particularly those around Izmir and the Aegean coast, produced rugs in the late 19th century that drew heavily on Persian classical design vocabulary while maintaining a distinctly Turkish hand — slightly bolder drawing, a more saturated palette, and a particular way of handling large curvilinear forms that sets them apart from their Persian counterparts. This piece is built around a large central oval medallion on a deep crimson field, the medallion itself filled with a sunburst rosette at its core surrounded by dense floral scrollwork in navy, slate blue, ivory, and gold. Large ivory cartouche forms extend above and below the medallion along the vertical axis, and sweeping ivory arabesques curve outward from the medallion toward the field edges, creating a bold, expansive composition that fills the crimson ground with considerable elegance. The field is relatively open by the standards of the period, letting the crimson breathe between the major design elements. The wide navy border carries a continuous floral arabesque in gold, ivory, and soft green — generous in scale and fully resolved at the corners. The drawing throughout has a confident, slightly monumental quality that suits the strong colour contrast between the crimson field and the deep navy border. A handsome and well-composed example of late Ottoman-period Turkish workshop weaving.