Batári–Crivelli carpet fragment

From the first half of the 14th century a new type of carpet – “with Anatolian animal figures” – appeared in European, mostly Italian paintings. These rugs laid on the floor showed squares or octagons, each with animal or bird figures inside. This fashion lasted until the last third of the 15th century, replaced by carpets of geometric design. Special literature classifies the early 15th–16th century Ottoman Turkish rugs by the name of the European painters who depicted them. The dating of these carpets also relies on the dates of the paintings as clues. In two paintings by the Venetian artist Carlo Crivelli (c. 1435–c. 1495) – the right wing of the Annunciation triptych (1482, Frankfurt am Main, Stadelsches Kunstinstitut) and the altarpiece Annunciation with St Emidius of 1486 (London, National Gallery) – a so-far unknown carpet type appears. In the field of the carpet of a yellow ground colour there are two star-shaped medallions filled with birds and geometric forms. The fragment, the only known specimen of the carpet type in Crivelli’s picture with naturalistic bird representations came into the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts, probably from Transylvania, in 1917. Its world fame owes to Ferenc Batari (1934–2005), the prominent expert of Ottoman Turkish carpets who published it under the name “Crivelli carpet” in his study of 1984. The Museum re-named it “Batari–Crivelli carpet fragment” in honour of him in the year of his death.

see also: Museum With No Frontiers