Soumak

Belle Epoque

The field is organized into a diamond lattice, each compartment filled alternately with a rosette of interlaced red and cream tendrils on a sage ground, or with a small cluster of pale blue leaves scattered on ivory. A continuous line of stylized red crosses runs through the guard border, framed by narrow ivory and deep green bands. The palette throughout is muted - olive green, faded red, straw yellow and dusty blue - and the pattern repeats with only slight variation in the density of the interlacing at each rosette.

Louis XVI Period

An ivory ground is overlaid with an undulating lattice of interlaced ribbon-like vines rendered in soft rust, sage green, and cream, forming a repeating pattern of elongated cartouches. Within each compartment sits a single stylized flowering plant, alternately rendered in teal, coral, and muted gold, some crowned with tasseled or bell-shaped blossoms. The scalloped outer edge echoes the curvilinear rhythm of the lattice, giving the whole surface a continuous, mirrored symmetry from top to bottom.

The field is composed of alternating horizontal bands: red stripes carrying a repeating floral scroll in ivory and gold, interspersed with narrow chevron stripes in gray and cream. A slender floral vine border in matching tones frames the field on all four sides, echoing the same red-ground palette and small blossom motifs seen throughout the striped body.

Arts and Crafts

Attributed to Mary 'May' Morris, England ca 1905.

Provenance: Dorris Duke Collection / Newport Restoration Foundation, Rough Point, Newport, RI; Parket-Bernet Galleries, New York, May 3, 1958

An open, softly abraded field in pale gold surrounds a stepped octagonal medallion outlined in faded crimson, its center marked by a small cruciform floral device. Scattered across the field are small rosettes, dotted diamonds, and slender vine tips in the same muted crimson, thinning as they near the border. The border itself carries a continuous row of small triangular serrated forms in red against the same ivory-gold ground.

The field is laid out in an interlocking lattice of pointed medallions rendered in soft gold outlines against an ivory ground, each compartment centered with small rosettes, stars, and diamond forms in mustard, rust, and pale blue. A narrow guard band of stylized blossoms and leaf sprigs frames the field, followed by a wider border of trefoil and floral motifs alternating in muted gold and rust on the same ivory ground. The palette stays consistently pale throughout, with warm ochre and soft blue accents standing out against the light background.

An ivory ground carries a dense, symmetrical arrangement of scrolling vinework, palmettes, and lanceolate leaves rendered in muted mauve, sage green, and soft gold. A pendant medallion anchors the center, and small serrated leaf forms punctuate the field at intervals along the vertical axis. The wide sage border repeats the palmette-and-vine motif with a mauve accent stripe, framed by narrow guard bands of stylized floral trellis.

An open, sand-toned field is scattered with small rosettes and cruciform blossoms in muted plum and faded rose, arranged in a loose diagonal lattice that has softened almost to a shadow against the ground. A wide border of scrolling vinework in the same bleached palette frames the field, interrupted at the corners by faint pink cartouche-like clusters. The overall tone is pale ivory and straw, with the pattern reading more as a ghost of itself than a bold design.

An open field in soft ivory carries a faint allover scroll of pink and rose blossoms and vinework, with small rosette medallions placed centrally along the vertical axis. A narrow rosette-and-vine border in muted olive and cream frames the field, and blue calligraphic inscriptions have been added in the outer guard band on all four sides, positioned in blocks at the corners and midpoints.