ISSUE 145 MARCH/APRIL 2006
CONTENTS & EDITORIAL
17 | LETTERS New to the market, or just new? Also correcting the record.
19 | NEWS Ancient & Modern prize; winners at the CDA.
21 | POSTCARD Discovering an Art Deco paradise in Provence.
23 | PREVIEW Exhibitions: Greek Island embroidery at the TM; Islamic Art at the Louvre Conferences: Dealers and auctions at ACOR Boston.
43 | CALENDAR Auctions, exhibitions, fairs and conferences.
53 | BOOKS Reviews ofFragile Remnants andTimeline History of Islamic Art and Architecture.
57 | FORUM How Turkmen and Turko-Mongol weavings have been influenced by Bronze Age architecture.
59 | BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME Penny Oakley A look at the Ottoman art collection of Istanbul’s Sadberk Hanım Museum, following its recent 25th anniversary exhibition.
64 | FROM PLANT TO TEXTILE Pippa Cruickshank How the fibres extracted from stinging nettles have been used in textiles since prehistoric times.
68 | TEKKE MAIN CARPETS David M. Reuben Presenting a new methodology for classifying Tekke Turkmen main carpets, compiled through analysis of designs in ‘early’ examples.
80 | INSIGHT AND OUTLOOK Marie-Louise Nabholz-Kartaschoff How the Annette and Marce Korolnik came to form their collection of Moroccan carpets, some of which will soon be housed at the new Musée du Quai Branly, Paris.
87 | A SAFAVID SILK KILIM Daniel Walker The first in a series of articles focusing on exceptional examples of woven art.
109 | REVIEW Exhibitions: Anatolian carpets in Philadelphia; Coptic textiles at the MAK, Vienna. Fairs: San Francisco Tribal & Textile Art Show.
115 | AUCTION PRICE GUIDE Tapestries take centre stage at Christie’s London.
123 | DESIGN FILE Reporting from fairs in Hanover and Atlanta.
130 | NETWORK Classified advertisements.
134 | ON THE MARKET Tekke Turkmen six-gül torbas over $1,750.
136 | PARTING SHOTS From Hanover and San Francisco.
Two recent HALI articles have generated a great deal of comment and correspondence. In the first (HALI 142, p.128), Dennis Dodds, Secretary General of the International Conference on Oriental Carpets, discussed the nature and quality of oriental rug studies and how the ICOC and HALI can engage the academic community to undertake relevant research. The second is Gerard Paquin’s presentation of a group of Ottomanesque silk-on-silk embroideries (HALI 144, p.58-69) that will be exhibited at ACOR 8 in Boston (20-23 April 2006). Both articles highlight the lack of institutional research and formal educational programmes involving antique carpets, and to a lesser extent oriental textiles, with the result that the work of interested collectors, enthusiasts and ‘amateurs’ receives correspondingly greater attention. The quality and objectivity of such research differs greatly, but it is generally through non-academics active in the market that new material is brought to the attention of the wider rug and textile community. The embroideries discussed by Paquin have aroused strong and divergent opinions, and questions have been raised about research methodology and authenticity. Some correspondents, mainly dealers with experience of buying at source, assert that the textiles are newly-made. On the other hand, a number of collectors and museum professionals, as well as a few dealers, have not judged them so harshly, suggesting that they could, for instance, be the work of a previously unidentified 19th or 20th century workshop. The divergent opinions of dealers and collectors are interesting in themselves, as they show how some things may never reach the market if dealers instinctively feel that they are ‘not right’. It also shows that while some people subjectively believe that the drawing and execution of these textiles is ugly and crude, others think it is provincial and attractively naive. We have a great deal of respect for the instinctive approach, based on experience gained through years of buying at source in a market bedevilled by over-restored and repurposed goods, but it does not help us to understand where these textiles were made. However it is important to identify through further research, whether amateur or professional, where they come from, not because they are a major new discovery, but because through co-operative investigation they will either be shown to be authentic expressions of a local tradition, or products intended to deceive, in which case the source will be exposed. This is simply good practice. We need to go beyond asserting that something is wrong, but we have yet to hear anything that convinces us that anyone really knows what these textiles are or where they were made. And we remain hopeful that there are traditions yet to be discovered.
THE COVER
Ceramic charger, Iznik manufactories, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1510-15, diameter 45.5cm (18"). This spectacular early Iznik charger, in the so-called ‘Baba Nakkas’ style, makes superb use of the Chinese-derived cloudband motif. Together with the endless knot, the cloudband entered the repertoire of Iznik potters as part of a new, more dramatic manner that evolved during the reign of Sultan Bayezid II (14811512). Under Bayezid’s father, the great Mehmed Fatih (1444-1481), Iznik potters favoured a dense decorative style characterised by continuous scrolling, but this was superseded in Bayezid’s time by the more spacious approach we see here. Leaving the cavettoundecorated highlights the drama and impact of decoration in the wells and rims of dishes such as this, accentuating the rhythm of alternating blue and white. Sadberk Hanım Museum, Istanbul, 9653-P.45
HALI 145 I 5