The use of oriental carpets was a high-status symbol in Europe before and during the Renaissance. Oil paintings are the best records, not only to track their use, but also their colors, patterns and origins.

We did not encounter any carpet as the main subject of a painting, but they were widely used and could be recognized due to the painters' fidelity to detail. Some patterns are even named after painters such as Lorenzo Lotto or Hans Holbein the Younger.

The sample below, dating from 1252 and attributed to Fra Bartolomeo, represents the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary and was the oldest we could find. The painter was more focused on the subject, and the carpet with its animal figures was not emphasized.

The second sample is Andrea Mantegna's San Zeno Altar Decoration (1456-1459), with a kufic-script border rug under the Virgin Mary's feet. The middle field of the rug is filled with typical West Anatolian hexagons. Carpets with these repeating hexagons were grouped as Holbein I after the painter Hans Holbein the Younger.

Andrea Previtali's Annunciation, dating from 1508, shows another Holbein-type carpet with kufic script on the border.

West Anatolian Carpet, 16th-17th Century, The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, Istanbul

Domenico Ghirlandaio's Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints, c. 1483.

LORENZO LOTTO

Lorenzo Lotto's Husband and Wife, dating from 1523, strongly emphasizes the West Anatolian carpet on the table with a so-called keyhole prayer design.

Oushak Carpet, 16th Century, The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, Istanbul

The Alms of St. Anthony by Lorenzo Lotto, from 1542, displays part of a West Anatolian Oushak carpet with a kufic border. The pattern filling the center is named after the painter and is also called Holbein II.

Oushak Carpet, 16th Century, The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, Istanbul

HANS HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER

Darmstadt Madonna by Hans Holbein the Younger, with donor portraits, on a Holbein Type III carpet, 1525-1526 and 1528.

Henry VIII standing on a star Oushak carpet, by Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1530.

Star Medallion Oushak Carpet, 17th Century, The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, Istanbul

HANS MEMLING

Hans Memling's still life of a jug with flowers on a Memling carpet, c. 1480-1485. The repeating pattern is called the Memling Gul after the painter.

The Somerset House Conference, 19 August 1604. The Spanish diplomats are on the left and the English on the right. Another example of a Holbein I type carpet appears on the table.

West Anatolian Carpet, 16th Century, The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, Istanbul