An Ottoman embroidered bohça, Turkey, 17th century

Ex-collection Frank Henry Cook (1862-1931), Surrey

By descent to Beatrice Elliott Lindell Cook (1875-1953), Surrey

A.J.B. Wace, Mediterranean and Near Eastern Embroideries from the Collection of Mrs F.H. Cook, London, 1935, no.99, pl.CXII

The enlivened ground comprising interlocked rows of repeated three-pointed terminals of this example is unusual. It bears resemblance to a bohca sold in these rooms, 12 March 1988, lot 6 (see also Taylor 1993, p.116). The ground in that example displayed repeated alternating triangles, more linear but closer in format to the fish-scale ground of magnificent sixteenth century kemhas in the Sadberk Hanim Museum, Istanbul (inv. SHM 17625) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. no.44.41.1).

Here, the format might derive from the reciprocal trefoil motif, see for example a sixteenth century catma in the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon (inv. no.192A, HALI, no.114, p.92). The catma shows the motifs in large-scale each centred by a single cintamani roundel. This is reflected in miniature in the border friezes, where each trefoil is centred by a single dot, evoked here by the minute dot in golden brown at the centre of each trefoil. Some silks were woven with a tessellated ground pattern, giving the effect of damask, such as a kaftan in the Topkapi Palace Museum (inv. no.13/46, Atasoy et al., 2008, pp.64-65, pl.21), which might also serve as inspiration for the kaleidoscopic ground here. The embroidered iteration is lively and less formal than its counterparts in velvet and silk brocade, with a joyful sense of freedom to the drawing.

The effect of the layering of the ground pattern is enhanced by the use of colour. The embroiderer creates contrast between adjacent elements in the tomato-red and the icy-blue, while the pale pistachio green displays a less abrupt contrast when placed beside the ivory. The juxtaposition of the blue and ivory sits somewhere in-between. This use of colour establishes layers and a three-dimensionality to the design.

Bohcas such as these were used to store and protect precious items, domestic gifts and clothing such as turbans. The painstaking workmanship that would go into the production of such an elaborate example indicates that this bohca was an elite commission probably intended for a very special occasion. Its relation to courtly textiles of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries suggests a skilful embroiderer closely acquainted with the source material.